# data[].attributes.headline
Emailing While You're on Vacation is a Quick Way to Ruin Company Culture -ok

# data[].attributes.subject
Emailing While You're on Vacation is a Quick Way to Ruin Company Culture -ok

# data[].attributes.body
Here’s an interesting HBR article that advocates for employees to trust fellow employees and stop emailing when they are vacationing.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Executive Summary

Companies expend untold energy building culture. And yet many managers don't seem to realize that while company culture can be really hard to build, it's incredibly easy to destroy. Just go on vacation, and then continue working like you never left. It is common practice for American managers. But the effects on company culture are terrible: an analysis by Project: Time Off found that in companies where it's unusual to unplug, employees are less engaged, less committed to the organization, and twice as likely to be looking for another job. So instead, try this two-step approach: go on vacation. And then trust your team to handle the business while you're away.

fandijki/Getty Images

Companies expend untold energy building culture-defining their values, revamping their office space, organizing holiday parties and volunteer outings. And yet many managers don't seem to realize that while company culture can be really hard to build, it's incredibly easy to destroy. And you may unknowingly ruin it in just two steps.

Step 1: Go on vacation.

Step 2: Continue working like you never left.

It is common practice for American managers. Our latest research at Project: Time Off shows that just 14% of managers unplug when they're on vacation. At the most senior levels of leadership, a mere 7% do. The majority check in with work at least once a day.

If you're in this camp, there is a good chance you are thinking about maintaining your own peace of mind either while you're away (what if something crucial happens?) or when you get back (if you truly unplugged, how would you ever catch up?). But before you hit "send," think. All emails are not created equal, and when you're on vacation, you're sending more messages than can be contained in the contents of your note.

Every email sent by a vacationing employee is a tiny cultural erosion: a signal to other employees that time off isn't really time off. In aggregate, these tiny erosions matter. They send signals like "I don't trust you to do the job without me," or "I'm not organized enough to wrap up my loose ends before I go on vacation." Either way, they erode perceptions of your likability and competence.

While all employees can contribute to this problem, when you're a manager, those signals are amplified even further. And unfortunately, many don't realize the consequences until the ground gives way underneath them. Company cultures that don't support unplugging have employees that are less engaged and less committed to the organization. Compared to employees in supportive cultures, they are less likely to say they feel valued by their company (69% to 50%) and cared about as a person (64% to 43%). They are, however, more likely to be looking for another job. Four in ten employees who work in companies that don't support unplugging are looking or planning to look for a new job in the next year, nearly double the 21% of employees in supportive cultures.

And their motivations have shifted considerably from the last time they were in the market. When asked why they left their previous job, the top reasons were predictable: increased compensation, advancement opportunity, or a better commute drove their decisions to leave. Now that they are job-hunting again, those reasons decline in prominence. No longer are they leaving in search of something positive, rather they are fleeing something negative. These employees who are working in cultures that don't support unplugging say they are leaving because they do not feel valued by their employer, are overwhelmed by a stressful workload, or have a negative relationship with their boss.

The boss is the number one influencer over an employee's time-even more than the employee's own family. The power of that influence may not be clear to managers, just as the downstream consequences of staying connected to work on vacation may not be intended. But their connectedness on vacation is a predictor of their support for their employees' vacation time. More than a third (35%) of managers who check in frequently on vacation say that pressure from the company prevents them from approving vacation requests, compared to just 20% of managers who check in occasionally, or 17% of those who unplug.

The consequences of a prohibitive vacation culture are stark, but there is also great opportunity for businesses that see the value of a true break. Vacation matters to employees-it is the second-most important benefit after health care, but ahead of retirement plans, bonuses, and flexibility-and it should be seen as an opportunity to improve culture.

Deloitte Consulting CEO Jim Moffatt had an epiphany shortly after sending an email to his employees. The note, sent ahead of his own vacation to Scotland, covered all the work they had in front of them, with the halfhearted closing, "Unplug a little before Labor Day, if you can." He now acknowledges that by saying, "if you can," he might as well have said, "don't try."

He came to that realization after a colleague and friend replied to his email with a note advising him to trust that he had hired the right people and given them the proper strategic direction, and there should be no need to send emails while he was on vacation. If he hadn't, a few emails would not fix what was wrong.

Today, Moffatt is among the converted. "You'll be amazed at what you can do when you're unplugged-and what your people have accomplished when you plug back in. I can personally attest, you'll be a more confident and better leader because of it."

Let's take another look at our two-step plan for destroying culture and see if we can revise it. How about this instead?

Step 1: Go on vacation.

Step 2: Trust your employees to handle the business while you're away.

Taking this approach can lead to realizing your employees have new capacities and talents, developing their skills, and ultimately growing your business.

Work and technology are inextricably linked. Understanding the power and value of vacation time and creating an environment where employees feel supported in leaving the office behind will ultimately foster an engaged workforce that feels valued, motivated, and committed-all of which have a lasting impact.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Emailing While You're on Vacation Is a Quick Way to Ruin Company Culture

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Executive Summary Companies expend untold energy building culture. And yet many managers don't seem to realize that while company culture can be really hard to build, it's incredibly easy to destroy. Just go on vacation, and then continue working like you never left. It is common practice for American managers.

# data[].attributes.headline
Facebook Shows Us How to Do Recognition the Right Way -ok

# data[].attributes.subject
Facebook Shows Us How to Do Recognition the Right Way -ok

# data[].attributes.body
Mark Zuckerberg showed how recognition should be properly done. For an employee’s 10-year anniversary, he delivered a workplace presentation and wrote a post on social media to show appreciation.

It was Kang-Xing Jin’s anniversary on Facebook. Also known as KX, he is Zuckerberg’s close friend and both have known each other since college. He was one of the first employees when Facebook started out.

What’s interesting about Zuckerburg’s is how he wrote his message. He first started with a funny story that shows the employee’s character. Then, he shared a personal anecdote that relates to the company’s vision and how the employee is essential to the company’s success. Lastly, he closed with a heartfelt thank you for their efforts.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Even though his organization is all about connecting people virtually, Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg recently did a stellar job connecting in person when he inadvertently delivered a clinic on workplace presentations for an employee's ten-year anniversary.

The KX Factor

Employee Kang-Xing Jin, known as "KX" to his colleagues, was a dear friend of Zuckerberg's in college and was one of the first employees of Facebook when it was starting up back in the early 2000s. In a post to his profile page, Zuckerberg shared a photo of the workplace presentation along with a thoughtful write-up that hit all the right notes:

Note 1: Break the ice with a humorous story that captures the employee's character.

I met KX on our first day of class at Harvard. I had been up coding the night before, and in my exhaustion I walked into class with my shirt on inside out and backwards. KX was the only person who didn't think it was weird. He later told me he didn't even notice.

Note 2: Share a personal anecdote and tie it back in to your organization's mission.

KX and I ended up working on computer science and math problem sets together, and we'd go out to pizza almost every night at this place called Pinocchio's - we called it Noch's - in Harvard Square. We used to talk about the future and how we thought technology was going to change things... about how one day someone was going to build a community to connect the whole world. We never thought it might be us.

Note 3: Share specific examples of how the employee is essential to the success of the organization

KX likes to remind me that he actually graduated from college before coming out to California. Still, over the years he's worked on almost everything we've built. He was on the team that built the first version of News Feed. He helped run our business and advertising services. Now he's in charge of a big part of the Facebook app and continues to play a huge role in shaping what Facebook is today.

Note 4: Give heartfelt and genuine thanks for their efforts.

KX, thank you for helping me get me through those two years of college and - more importantly - for helping connect so many people. You've been an amazing friend and partner every step of the way.

Nailed it! Zuckerberg's post has since garnered over 300,000 likes and has been shared over 7,000 times. While recognition methods are becoming increasingly virtual in the digital age, it's easy to forget that good old-fashioned in-person recognition is still a thing, even at one of the techiest of all the tech companies in Silicon Valley.

And why shouldn't it be? There is an unmistakable potency and tactile quality in a personal presentation that technology may never be able to replicate. That's why all your digital recognition efforts should be balanced with analog, in-person efforts.

You could be like Mark - make a workplace presentation, and then share the experience on social media so everyone can get in on the fun. Whatever you do, mix it up, and don't underestimate the power of human connections.

This article originally appeared on the Michael C. Fina blog.

Get the best of TLNT, delivered right to your inbox. Subscribe to our daily e-newsletter.

About the Author

Cord Himelstein has helped Michael C. Fina become one of the leading providers of employee recognition and incentive programs. Since 2007, he has been responsible for leading the company's strategic marketing initiatives and communications efforts. Cord works closely with customers to help them develop measurable workforce recognition strategies and create memorable experiences for their employees.

Cord is also a recognized thought leader in the human resources community, and is a regular contributor to our corporate blog, where his articles have enjoyed national exposure through major HR publications including SHRM, Workspan, TLNT, Smartbrief, and Entrepreneur. Prior to joining Michael C. Fina, Cord worked in the entertainment industry for more than 15 years, where he held senior positions with Elektra Entertainment and EMI Music Group.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cord-himelstein-970b375

All Articles by Cord Himelstein

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Facebook Shows Us How to Do Recognition the Right Way

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Even though his organization is all about connecting people virtually, Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg recently did a stellar job connecting in person when he inadvertently delivered a clinic on workplace presentations for an employee's ten-year anniversary. The KX

# data[].attributes.headline
Complete Guide to a Successful Company Newsletter [with Templates] -ok

# data[].attributes.subject
Complete Guide to a Successful Company Newsletter [with Templates] -ok

# data[].attributes.body
If you’re tasked by your boss to start a company newsletter but don’t know where to begin, then this article will help you. SnackNation gives you templates that you can get inspiration from no matter what type of newsletter you want to create. They also give you tips on which topics to consider, especially what questions to ask to get you on the right track.

They note that by having structure, you will be able to go to the right direction when it comes to creating a newsletter that employees will love while making sure that it reflects the company’s values and spirit. SnackNation also gives different examples so you can quickly start your newsletter without any problems.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
"We should start a company newsletter," your boss says.

You say that's a swell idea, and you mean it. Your company does a lot of cool stuff, and you're pretty sure you'll have enough to fill up a newsletter. But when you sit down to get to work, you realize you have no idea what to include. You start asking questions like...

What do people like to read?

What are some of the really cool things the company is doing?

How can I personalize a newsletter so it captures the spirit of my company?

Where do I start?

If you're asking these questions, then you're on the right track to designing a solid company newsletter. Considering these key points means you care enough to think critically about delivering a newsletter employees will love.

And of course, we're here to help. Sometimes all you need is a little bit of structure or push in the right direction to go from "I wish I could do that..." to "look what I can do."

Explore your questions and get started using the company newsletter ideas and templates below.

Newsletter Templates

Fill personalized details into any of these newsletter outlines to make something that perfectly suits your company.

1. The "Just the Facts" newsletter

Message from the CEO or President. Ideally, this short and sweet message will come directly from your CEO or president. Simply ask the boss to talk about what was most exciting or significant about the upcoming month or quarter.

Cool stuff that already happened. What are the most notable things your company has been doing for the past month or quarter? What events have you held? What records and goals have you met? (Hint: your company's leaders will know this - it's kind of all they think about. Have your CEO dictate this info to you. Your job is to translate it into a newsletter.)

Cool stuff that's happening soon. Get everyone excited about upcoming events, company changes that affect all employees, short-term goals, and anything else that comes to mind.

Tip: When you're coming up with content for the "cool stuff" sections, simply go with what you think is cool. Trust your instincts. If you find something interesting, chances are your team will as well.

Employee spotlights and Q&As. Add a little human interest to your newsletter with an employee spotlight at the end of each issue. Choose about five questions to use every time, and simply email the employee to get answers and a picture to go with the post. Here are some question ideas:

What's your favorite thing about the company?

What's your best workplace memory?

What are you listening to right now? (Music or podcast!)

What's one must-read blog you're into at the moment?

What's your favorite motivational quote?

Where are you going on your next vacation?

2. The video newsletter

Copy everything from the bread and butter newsletter, and replace the chair's message with a video. Obviously, this works only for online newsletter formats.

Don't be intimidated. Sure, this takes a few extra skills, but there are tons of tutorials for entry-level video editing software like iMovie.

Do it all on your phone! The camera on your phone is likely more than powerful enough to get the job done. In fact, there are great mobile video editing apps to help you make a professional-quality video newsletter all within your smartphone. This guide has tons of options and info.

3. The gazette

Writing your newsletter with bold, cheesy headlines (in the style of an old-fashioned gazette) delivers news while providing some light-hearted entertainment.

National News. Select three of the latest and greatest company happenings. Summarize the major points with eye-catching headlines. Here are some examples:

Account Team Lands Biggest Client in Company History

CEO Makes Show-Stopping Presentation

New Wellness Initiative Makes Weightloss Waves

Style and Society. In this section, profile things going on with employees. Highlight new hires, birthdays, anniversaries, and company events.

For each issue, ask one department manager to write a short opinion piece on a bit of national news that's relevant to the company.

Letters to the Editor. Here, answer frequently asked employee questions. You can source these from the HR department, a suggestion box, or any social media channels your company uses to interface with employees. This is a fantastic way to give your team a sense of ownership, and to make sure your internal communication is more of a dialogue than a corporate soliloquy.

Pro-tip: the light-hearted tone of this format works best when it aligns with your culture and brand.

4. The human interest newsletter

This newsletter gives people what they really want: juicy details and information about their co-workers.

New hire announcements or profiles

Retirements

Benchmark anniversaries (5, 10, 15, 20, etc.)

Promotions

Department Q&As. Often, employees across a company have no idea what other departments do. For each issue, pick a department for a Q&A that tells employees exactly:

What the department does.

Who the department serves.

How the department does what they do. (Do they use any technology? What special skills do employees in this department have?)

What the department sees as their goals for the future

Past event highlights. Try to get plenty of pictures and maybe a few quotes from employees who attended the events.

Upcoming events.

5. The listicle newsletter

A popular format in modern media, the listicle post is fast and easy to read and skim. It helps guide the eye and provides busy employees with a streamlined reading experience. (Don't forget to use a power word in the headline to get people to engage!)
Here are some specific listicle ideas:

Top 10 Jaw-Dropping Things That Happened Last Month

Top 10 Unexpected Reasons We Love Working at [Company Name] This Month

5 Crucial Things You Might Have Missed in [Insert Month]

10 Mission-Critical Company Goals for [Insert Month or Quarter]

6. The roundup Newsletter

The email marketing experts at Pinpointe recommend a roundup post featuring your company's best blog posts or social media posts from the past month or quarter. These items usually aren't initially targeted to employees, so the content will be new for them, and you barely have to create anything new; you simply have to put existing content into a cool design.
Here's what to include:

Top 5 blog posts (most read)

Top 5 social media posts (most shared)

Top 5 events

7. The Inspirational Newsletter

If most employees already know all about the happenings at your company, try delivering a different benefit other than news-try delivering inspiration and education.

Vision Message. Have the head of your company write a brief summary of their short-term vision.

Upcoming Classes and Workshops. Even if your company doesn't offer these, you can find local sources to include.

Inspirational Videos. Ask leadership for recommendations for videos they think all employees should see.

Quote of the month/quarter. Ask employees for quotes or just look some up online. Here are 141 Motivational and Inspirational Quotes for Work.

Recommended reading. Ask leadership for book or article recommendations they believe would help employees in their work. With so much content out there, in can feel like a firehose of information. A curated list like this is a huge value add for your team.

8. The podcast newsletter

The fresh format will entice employees to listen to your company's news. It also provides a welcomed audio break in a work day overloaded with emails, or a convenient way to consume important company info during commutes or other idle times.

Tip: If you want to try this, but you lack the technical skills, check out Buzzsprout's illustrated podcast how-to.

Here's what to include:

Message from the CEO or President. Instead of asking leadership to write something, simply go and record the message in person.

Event Highlights. Go to events and record presentations and talks and ask a few attendees to provide quotes. You can sort through the audio clips later on to find short sound bites.

Cool stuff. Choose two news items to recap and two upcoming items to reveal. Select a well-spoken coworker to read the news items and then add transition music or sound effects between each segment.

Employee spotlights and Q&As. Record employee Q&As in person (But be sure to email the person so they can think of their answers ahead of time.) Do as many "takes" as needed to get audio that's clean and natural. Here are some question ideas:

What's your favorite thing about the company?

What's your best workplace memory?

What are you listening to right now?

What's your favorite motivational quote?

Where are you going on your next vacation?

Newsletter Dos and Don'ts

Do:

Include info that's relevant and interesting to everyone. When considering whether or not to include something, use the "so what?" test. Read the news item and ask yourself, "so what?" If the event doesn't have the significance to answer that question, cut it.

Represent a variety of voices. Highlight employees at all levels-don't only focus on leadership.

Keep the length in check. It's easy to get carried away when you're having fun, but remember, even if your newsletter is absolutely awesome, most employees only have the time to read a page or two.

Collect analytics or take surveys to find out:

If people are reading the newsletters

What people really want to hear about in a newsletter

Make the title compelling and clear. What will people get when they read the newsletter? Use your answer to create a title. "[Company Name] News" works every time.

Offer the newsletter in multiple formats. Many companies provide an email, a website, and a downloadable/printable PDF.

Make it shareable. Add share buttons to each segment so employees can share what they find most interesting and relevant.

Keep leadership in the loop. Get leadership's input and approval before sending anything.

Make the newsletter mobile friendly. Ask your company's web team how to do this.

Make the newsletter visually interesting. Work with a designer if one is available to you. If you don't have the resources, simply remember to include photos and plenty of white space.

Create a template and stick to it.

Create a summary/at a glance section. This means even people who don't read the whole newsletter can take away important information.

Don't:

Forget to include or involve remote employees or offices. Be sure to include information relevant to these people and even spotlight some remote employees; regular employees will enjoy getting to know their remote colleagues.

Rush to send without checking your facts. It's better to miss a deadline than it is to misrepresent something.

Forget to find the balance between necessary and unnecessary info. Make sure your newsletter content doesn't skew too far in either direction.

Neglect technical details, including spam filtering. Work with your resident IT department or expert to make sure your newsletter will display correctly in emails and inboxes.

Do all the work alone. Invite people to write guest columns, and of course, ask for more ideas. Collaborative newsletters are more fun to create and read.

Forget to match the newsletter tone to your company culture. If you work for a conservative law firm, then it's probably best to skip a newsletter that channels Buzzfeed.

Ignore key performance indicators (KPIs) and goals in your planning process. Even if you love your newsletter, you will still need some objective, quantitative metrics to use in measuring success.

Get greedy with the news. You'll definitely be tempted to hold back some juicy news for the newsletter, but some timely information should go out immediately. Consider how the news affects employees to make the decision.

Getting People to Read Your Newsletter

1. Make the newsletter the primary source/reference for event dates.

Why it works: When employees stop receiving handfuls of reminder emails for the same event, they'll learn to use the online version of the newsletters as their sole event reference guide. With hope, they'll read some of the newsletters while they're checking dates.

2. Capitalize on nosiness by including human interest items, such as promotions and Q&As.

Why it works: Just consider Facebook's success; everyone wants to know what everyone else is up to. Make your newsletter a source of human interest information and employees will read it religiously.

3. Include a photo diary.

Why it works: The internal communications experts at Poppulo recommend including a photo diary in your newsletter. This strategy excites the same inherent curiosity as human interest stories. People love reading about other people...and looking at their photos.

4. Include rewards and giveaways at the end.

Why it works: Tech giant Apple has been known to sneak giveaways into their massive terms-of-service list. A $25 gift card for the first person who reads the entire newsletter is a great way to boost buzz and reader loyalty. You can even move the reward text to different locations, such as photo captions, to send readers on a pleasant Easter-egg hunt.

*To manage the reward, simply provide an email address. The email with the earliest timestamp wins the prize.

5. Add a survey or poll.

Why it works: A survey or poll makes your newsletter more interactive, and therefore, more enticing. Jostle recommends sharing the results in real time if you have the ability.

6. Use the newsletter to answer questions.

Why it works: Link the newsletter to your suggestion box, or simply announce that you're taking hard-hitting questions for a Q&A section of the newsletter. Many print magazines address reader queries in the front matter of each issue, and this is the same idea. Those who asked the questions will definitely read the newsletter, and everyone else will enjoy reading answers to questions they never thought (or wanted) to ask.

7. Resend.

Why it works: This strategy is not a cop-out; it's just smart. Interact recommends re-sending at least once to get your newsletter in front of as many eyeballs as possible.

8. Make it short.

Why it works: The Bananatag blog recommends making newsletters short and snackable. In other words, make your point using as few words as possible.

9. Send the newsletter from the CEO's email address.

Why it works: A newsletter from the CEO? That gives your newsletter the air of gravitas many readers need to dive in.

10. Promote the newsletter with posters around the office.

Why it works: What questions does your newsletter answer? Turn those questions into posters and paste them around the office, noting how you'll answer this question and more in the next newsletter (include the drop date). People who weren't initially curious about the question will get curious the more they think about it.
What does your company's newsletter feature? Let us know in the comments below.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Complete Guide to a Successful Company Newsletter [with Templates]

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Complete Guide to a Successful Company Newsletter "We should start a company newsletter," your boss says. You say that's a swell idea, and you mean it. Your company does a lot of cool stuff, and you're pretty sure you'll have enough to fill up a newsletter. But

# data[].attributes.body
posted

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
If your organization holds employee town hall meetings, chances are you're already planning your first session of 2018. That's why it's a great time to resolve to make next year's town halls more energetic and engaging.

After all, town halls are a valuable way for employees to hear from leaders, which builds trust and confidence. And town halls share content employees can't receive anywhere else, which provides valuable learning. Plus, town halls bring people together from various locations and functions, so they create a sense of community.

It's clear that town halls have the potential to be a dynamic, interactive form of communication. However, too many become data dumps, with senior leaders sharing slide after slide of facts, figures and statistics that employees will forget five minutes after the session is over.

Town halls are such an important part of an effective internal communication program that it's critical to do them right. Here are 18 ways to improve your next town hall:

1. Set tangible, specific objectives. Having a clear focus will help you design the town hall to be more purposeful. For example, choose objective like these: "create learning about an issue that's vital to the organization" or "motivate employees to take action."

2. Design every research tool--from post-event surveys to an annual communication audit--to measure how well employees think you've achieved your objectives.

3. Build a story arc. A "story arc" is a term that fiction writers, Broadway playwrights and Hollywood screenwriters use to describe the ups and downs of a narrative. For a town hall, a story arc describes the emotional lows (discussing a serious issue) and highs (celebrating success) that create energy.

4. Create a "run of show" document that choreographs what will occur and when. Town halls are too important to manage loosely--the best sessions run with military precision. The most important element: every segment starts and ends on time.

5. Eliminate every piece of information that's not essential to tell your story. Town halls don't happen very often, so it's tempting to want to talk about everything that has happened since the last one. But, there's a limit to how much information people can process before they suffer from overload.

6. Limit your agenda to no more than three key topics (yes, only three) and keep the level of detail to a minimum. Fewer, more focused topics will help keep employees interested.

7. Include financial results only if you bring them to life for employees. Dense charts don't create understanding. Relate numbers to what the organization needs to work on next.

8. Go deep instead of covering a wide range of topics. For example, instead of reiterating all seven strategic initiatives, focus on one strategy. Invite an internal expert to explain what it means. Create a breakout session where employees share their perspectives on the issue.

9. Bring a fresh and unexpected element to every topic. For example, don't review safety statistics; develop stories about how employees have taken steps to improve workplace safety.

10. Show video only if it's very short and action-packed. Ever look around the room when a long, contemplative video is being played? Employees' eyes literally look glazed over. Video should be no more than two minutes long--and every second needs to be as fast-moving as a Michael Bay movie.

11. If using PowerPoint, create a lot of slides--with one concept per slide. I'm not sure why the rule for presentations became "less is better." With fewer slides, presenters tend to cram more information in each slide and employees quickly get bored of watching the same slide for minute after minute. By creating lots of slides with one idea per slide, you give employees something new to look at and keep your deck moving forward, both of which will make for a more engaging presentation.

12. Change the way the room is arranged. Most of the time, seats are set up theater-style, with chairs in straight rows. The problem is that arrangement sends a signal to people that their role is to observe and listen. We think of concerts, plays, movies, sporting events--all experiences where people aren't participants, but audience members. If possible, set up round tables, with employees sitting in a semi-circle around one side of each table, facing the leaders.

13. Put tables (and chairs) close together. As every stand-up comedian knows, wide-open spaces make people stiff. So bring employees in as close to speakers as possible. A little crowding is a good thing.

14. To encourage employees to participate, take a vote. The safest way for employees to participate is as part of a big group. Use audience response devices or text polling to ask employees their opinions on key issues. If you don't have access to technology, you can still ask employees to share their viewpoint. The simplest approach? Call for a show of hands.

15. Instead of calling for questions, coach leaders to pose a question. Even in the most open, supportive culture, it's risky for employees to expose potential ignorance by asking a question. But if the leader poses a question--like "What are the obstacles to achieving this objective?"--employees have the opportunity to participate from a position of strength.

16. Allow plenty of time for participation. Most town halls and other leader venues are too heavily weighted toward presentations, leaving only a few minutes at the end for Q&A. Once employees start to watch the clock ("only 10 more minutes"), they're discouraged from participating. You need enough time to set up the discussion, facilitate dialogue and build momentum.

17. Make sure every person has an equal experience. Even if some employees attend in person and others join via web meeting or teleconference, make sure everyone has a chance to participate. Assign a facilitator to manage each remote location--and a partner facilitator who sits in the main location (where the leader is.) The remote facilitator is responsible for collecting employees' questions and comments--and feeding them to his or her partner facilitator via chat, text or email.

18. Practice, practice, practice. Especially if you're trying new techniques, make sure you test everything: seating, tech, transitions, confetti. And, yes, your leaders are busy, but they need to do a quick dry run to make sure they're comfortable before the show starts.

Every improvement will make your next town hall a more meaningful, memorable experience.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
18 Ways to Make Employee Town Halls More Engaging in 2018

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
If your organization holds employee town hall meetings, chances are you're already planning your first session of 2018. That's why it's a great time to resolve to make next year's town halls more energetic and engaging. After all, town halls are a valuable way for employees to hear from leaders, which builds trust and confidence.

# data[].attributes.body
posted

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Town-hall style meetings have been around since humans decided to start gathering in centralized locations to discuss important matters. Their premise is simple: It's a time and space for leaders to communicate with constituents, partners and employees; for individuals to commune with the large group and vice versa. A true town hall meeting includes plenty of give-and-take between participants at all levels.

Thanks to advances in modern technology, town hall meetings have been trending toward interactivity, efficiency and culture-building. Consider these five important functions of modern town hall meetings next time you're planning and executing a large-scale meeting for your organization.

Fostering Company Community

Company culture has become somewhat of a buzzword in the corporate world. Why? Because organizations have realized poor company culture is associated with high turnover rates and decreased productivity. Conversely, strong company culture often entices employees to stick around and grow with the organization, plus encourages strong new candidates to apply.

As much as leaders like to believe they can forge company culture by sheer willpower and programming alone, it actually takes a secret ingredient: sense of community. As the Workforce Institute writes, "Communities are successful because their members are successful. For a community to thrive, it needs care and attention. This means building and growing a community is about people, not programs."

Town-hall meetings are the perfect time to establish a living, breathing community-one that reaches well beyond mere goals and objectives written in a memo.

Expanding Top-Down Communication

How connected do employees feel with the leadership? Town hall meetings are a great time to break down barriers between high-level employees and everyone else, whether leaders take the physical stage or reach employees via live videoconferencing technology. But truly innovative organizations push past a traditional top-down model of communication and decision-making. How? By getting interactive.

Gathering Valuable Feedback

Employees are full of insights, opinions and bright ideas. Town halls are the perfect time and place to solicit them. Integrating interactive Google Slides into a presentation deck, for instance, allows companies to gather feedback on the spot. As long as employees have access to a web-enabled device, they can anonymously contribute to polls, word clouds and Q&A sessions. Organizations can then refer to this collected intel long after the actual town hall meeting ends.

Brainstorming New Strategies

To put it plainly, town hall meetings are a great time to ask: "Here's where we stand, but where are we headed? How can we get there?" One nonprofit community advisor demonstrated this principle in action for Government Technology: After two bike-related deaths within a week in a Colorado community, a town hall meeting helped organizers hold a brainstorming session. Thanks to electronic polling technology, they walked out of the meeting with a concrete list of actions, some of which the community has since implemented to boost bike safety.

Building Valuable Connections

Town hall meetings are a great chance for employees to leave their workspaces, shake up their daily routines and connect with new colleagues. You want participants to leave the session energized and inspired- not drained and relieved it's over. Make sure your organization is creating opportunities for employees to communicate and collaborate, whether it's a five-minute icebreaker activity to kick off a presentation or breakout sessions to cap off a keynote speech. Interpersonal connections within a business only strengthen its fabric, so it's worthwhile to prioritize social growth and, yes, even just plain fun.

It's time to take advantage of the full breadth of what a great town hall can catalyze: a sense of community, a forum for feedback and a place to actively shape the future of your organization.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
5 Important Functions of Modern Town Hall Meetings

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Town-hall style meetings have been around since humans decided to start gathering in centralized locations to discuss important matters. Their premise is simple: It's a time and space for leaders to communicate with constituents, partners and employees; for individuals to commune with the large group and vice versa.

# data[].attributes.body
posted

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
In more than 30 years' experience in internal communication, I've learned that one of the things employees value most is the opportunity to connect with senior leaders That's why town hall meetings are so important; they give leaders a forum for sharing results, reviewing critical issues and discussing what employees can do to help the organization succeed.

The intention is to create an open space for employees to engage in conversations. However, the problem occurs when the meeting becomes just a series of dense, one-way presentations. And it's made worse when one session is just the same as every other town hall.

The result is that employees start to dread town hall meetings rather than looking forward to attending them. In fact, if you were to ask employees, they might say:

"With all those charts, time moves so slowly."

"The format doesn't change from quarter to quarter, and the content's not very different either. I feel like I heard it all before."

"I don't know what it means to me."

"The CEO says he wants questions, but presentations always run long and we end up with only a few minutes for Q&A."

"What do I feel when I leave the town hall? Mostly relief that it's over."

What a missed opportunity!

The potential of effective town hall meetings

When town halls are well run, they give employees the chance to closely interact with senior leaders, which builds trust and confidence. Town halls share content employees can't hear anywhere else. And they bring people together to create a sense of community.

How, then, can you tap into the potential to make town halls as effective as possible?

Start with this premise: A town hall meeting is an event, not a series of presentations. In fact, the core principle is participation. Several thousand years ago, the Greeks invented the town hall (which they called an "assembly") as a way to give citizens a voice and a role in government. Today, every town hall should be planned not just as a way to share information but as an engaging experience.

5 actions you can take to plan a meaningful town hall meeting

1. Set focused objectives

In many organizations, town halls have become so routine that they run almost on automatic pilot. The sessions are scheduled months in advance and, a few weeks before the town hall meeting will be held, the communicator in charge starts to work on content the meeting will cover. He or she meets with leaders, asking, "What do you want to talk about this time?"

But that's actually the wrong question. For the town hall to be truly effective, here's what you should ask: "What are the outcomes we are trying to achieve in holding this town hall? What do we want employees to know, believe and do as a result of participating in the meeting?"

By doing so, you're creating focused objectives that build a strong foundation for planning a town hall meeting that's not based on a collection of topics (see #2), but on measurable outcomes that make the session worth the effort.

Objectives like these are a great starting point for building better town halls:

Increase confidence in the company and trust in leaders

Learn about an issue that's vital to the organization

Motivate participants

Prepare employees to take action

2. Create focus and flow

One of the most common mistakes made in planning town halls is including too many topics.

It's not unusual for organizers to put town halls together by collecting topics from key stakeholders. By the time the town hall meeting begins, there are 10 or 12 topics shoehorned into 40 minutes of presentation time. The town hall seems like a laundry list (a bulleted list of facts) or rice at a wedding (unstructured, scattered content).

Instead, ask yourself: How can you put this town hall together to raise employees' energy and leave them feeling more motivated than when they came in?

Start by structuring the session to engage employees' emotions. Think about which topics build energy and lift people up, and how others will require serious thought.

Plan your town hall meeting the way you would a special event or a television talk show. Start with a strong opening. Energize employees early-and give them opportunities to participate throughout the meeting, not just at the end. Instead of giving every topic equal time, create in-depth sessions on the issues that matter most. Consider telling a compelling story that brings the issue to life.

Here is an example of what I mean-an energy-creating agenda that immerses employees in a key initiative:

Welcome/introductions (5 minutes)

Thank you for great year; recognize teams that made a difference (5 minutes)

Recap 7 priorities for the coming year, give a tangible example for each (5 minutes)

Focus on customer service priority: what's happening with our competitors, why customer service is a differentiator, how we're working to improve our scores by 10% (15 minutes)

Employee perspectives on customer service, brainstorm initial ideas, Q&A and discussion (25 minutes)

Next steps (5 minutes)

3. Keep content fresh

There's nothing more boring than old news, yet many town halls share information that employees already know. The content is as stale as last week's bread.

The good news is this: You can create content that's fresh and unexpected; you just need to put in a little effort. Here are three ways to do so:

Instead of rehashing the quarterly financial report, ask the CFO to share what analysts are most concerned about.

Instead of reiterating all seven strategic initiatives, focus on one. Invite an internal expert to explain what it means. Create a breakout session where employees share perspectives on the issue.

Instead of repeating any existing content, explore new ways to engage the audience. For example, don't review safety statistics; develop stories about how employees have taken steps to improve workplace safety. Show photos, play audio, create a video.

4. Arrange the "room"

Physical space matters and sets the tone for the conversation. Here's a simple change that will make a big difference: rearrange the way the room is set up.

Many organizers arrange the chairs in theater style: semicircular rows of chairs facing a stage. A theater-style arrangement sends a signal to people that their role is to observe and listen-not participate.

Instead, consider setting up the room up with round tables, with employees sitting in a semi-circle around one side of each table, facing leaders. This seating arrangement signals to employees that they're in this together-that they've got a chance to work together to participate. Of course, you've got to do more than just rearrange the room; create an activity (such as a breakout discussion) that takes advantage of the new seating arrangement. By changing the chairs, you signal to employees that this town hall meeting may be different from the ones that came before.

5. Go beyond Q&As to transform participation

At nearly every traditional town hall meeting, there's a moment of silence that comes when a senior leader utters these four scary words: "Are there any questions?" A hush falls over the room. People avoid making eye contact. Finally, some brave soul raises his hand and everyone starts breathing again.

Town hall participation shouldn't be painful. Here are three ways to encourage employees to play a role.

Allow plenty of time.
Most town halls and other leader venues are too heavily weighted toward presentations, leaving only a few minutes at the end for Q&A. You need enough time to set up the discussion, facilitate dialogue and build momentum.

Take a vote.
The safest way for employees to participate is as part of a big group. Use audience response devices or text polling to ask employees their opinions on key issues. If you don't have access to technology, you can still ask employees to participate by calling for a show of hands.

Instead of calling for questions, coach leaders to pose a question.
Even in the most supportive culture, it's risky for employees to expose potential ignorance by asking a question. But if the leader poses a question-like "What are the obstacles to achieving this objective?"-employees have the opportunity to participate from a position of strength.

You don't have to make all these changes at once; even a simple step can make a difference in improving the experience of your town hall meetings.

Image Credit: Photo by Edwin Andrade on Unsplash

Follow Me:

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
How Do You Run a Meaningful Town Hall Meeting For Employees? - Meeteor

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
In more than 30 years' experience in internal communication, I've learned that one of the things employees value most is the opportunity to connect with senior leaders That's why town hall meetings are so important; they give leaders a forum for sharing results, reviewing critical issues and discussing what employees can do to help the [...]

# data[].attributes.body
posted

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
At their best, town hall meetings are an opportunity for senior leadership and all employees to connect, collaborate, and share updates. At their worst, these company-wide meetings can simply be a waste of time, where it feels more like a one-sided lecture better served as an email. It's rare to pull everyone together, either virtually or in-person, so take advantage of this opportunity and make it an event that actively (and positively!) contributes to your company's culture.

1. Play music. Music is something we all can appreciate, and it has been proven to lighten as well as improve the mood. By playing music at the beginning of the town hall meeting, your employees will come in feeling relaxed, refreshed, and ready to learn more about the current state of the company. Take it a step further and make it collaborative by giving the song selection responsibility to a different employee each time.

2. Keep the sessions smaller, and emphasize the importance of face-to-face communication with leadership. According to the Society for Human Resource Management, the town hall meeting is most effective because it has the ability to capture and hold the attention of the audience. The audience will be even more engaged if the sessions are smaller, so you might want to schedule several different town hall opportunities and invite employees to sign up for a time that works best for their schedule.

3. Incorporate a meal into the meeting. This WCG blog notes that serving food and encouraging corporate leaders to sit at tables with other employees will improve engagement. Some employees might be too intimidated to speak up during a question-and-answer session, and they might feel more comfortable asking a question in a more casual atmosphere over a turkey wrap.

4. Use pictures and videos to capture the attention of the audience... and keep it! Visual elements will be more interesting to the audience, and will make your meeting more successful. Consider revamping your entire slideshow template to be more colorful and visual.

5. Present awards at the meeting. Choose different awards for each town hall, and be sure to recognize a diverse range of employees. The prize doesn't need to be expensive, and instead, it can be something simple, fun, or even goofy. The key is to create excitement around the award program.

6. Make it more interesting by hosting an interview. Ask a member of the communications team to interview a new employee each month. This could be a member of senior management, a new employee, or someone who went above and beyond this month. Make sure the interview is informative and encourage the interviewee's personality to shine through!

7. Encourage feedback via a follow-up survey. Maybe employees had questions they didn't have a chance to ask, or maybe they want to share their positive feedback about the new award program that you implemented after reading point 5 in this post. Give everyone an opportunity to provide this feedback by sending a quick follow-up survey to all employees after the town hall meeting.
Looking to develop an open, communicative culture? Learn how CultureIQ can help.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
7 Ways to Make Your Town Hall Meetings More Engaging

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
At their best, town hall meetings are an opportunity for senior leadership and all employees to connect, collaborate, and share updates. At their worst, these company-wide meetings can simply be a waste of time, where it feels more like a one-sided lecture better served as an email.

# data[].attributes.body
posted

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
It is common knowledge that happy employees are more productive than their restless counterparts. Unfortunately, only 13% of employees report feeling engaged while at work. To alleviate employee dissatisfaction, many managers have come up with town hall meeting ideas. Town hall meetings have worked for many a leader. In fact, the most recent presidential election utilized the town hall meeting model for its debates. Why The Town Hall Meeting Model WorksNowadays, many corporations host company meetings via audio. Audio meetings, while convenient, don't hold employees' attention like face-to-face meetings do. Then there is the value of face-to-face interaction to consider. People prefer face-to-face communication because it is more personal. It says, "I care enough about what you have to say to see you in person." As a result, face-to-face meetings are more likely to build trust between employers and their employees. Plus, there are the possible audio issues to consider. Even when the phone or Internet connection is clear, voices can become static-y and hard to understand. Additionally, the town hall meeting is about giving everyone a voice. It isn't an "I talk and you listen" situation like many all-hands meetings are. Town Hall Meeting IdeasBefore hosting a town hall meeting, there are a few ideas you should take into consideration. Let's take a look at the top town hall meeting ideas below. Give Employees NoticeWhen you announce the town hall meeting, announce it far enough in advance that employees can plan what they want to say. Keep in mind employees may be hesitant to voice what they think may be viewed as "complaints." During your announcement, remember to let your employees know that you want feedback. That lets them know you want to hear what they have to say. Send Out SurveysPrior to the meeting, send out an anonymous survey to all employees. Emphasize the fact that the survey is anonymous. In the survey, address specific questions that you have. For example, what is working for the company? What isn't working for the company? Additionally, ask for specific feedback about organizational challenges that employees have encountered. Include a space for them to make suggestions for improvement. Address The FindingsMake a complication of all the feedback that you received, especially the questions. Then give your answers during the town hall meeting. It is important to include time for employees to ask different questions about the answers that you give. The survey will give you an idea of the topics on your employees' mind. Use that knowledge to prepare in advance for the additional questions you'll receive. It is also important to address all the feedback that you receive. Acknowledging even outlier feedback shows your employees that you heard their voices. Follow Up Follow up on all feedback that you received in a timely manner. Shoot a company-wide email to all employees outlining the meeting and what was addressed. Additionally, outline how you plan to improve procedures per the feedback that you received. End with thanking everyone for their participation.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
How to Develop Rock Solid Town Hall Meeting Ideas - POPin

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
It is common knowledge that happy employees are more productive than their restless counterparts. Unfortunately, only 13% of employees report feeling engaged while at work. To alleviate employee dissatisfaction, many managers have come up with town hall meeting ideas. Town hall meetings have worked for many a leader.

# data[].attributes.body
posted

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
In this article, we'll look at how town hall meetings operate in an organizational context. The purpose of a town hall meeting is to allow:

Management to keep their team up to date on important information.

The team to ask questions of management and give their feedback.

Everyone to understand the goals and values of the organization.

Town hall meetings also go by the name of All-Hands meetings. The term "all-hands" captures exactly who needs to attend the town hall meeting. Everyone!

We'll use the terms "all-hands" and "town hall" interchangeably throughout the rest of this article.

Advantages of Town Hall Meetings

Town hall meetings have many advantages:

Important Updates are Shared Firsthand: technology can enable even remote teams to listen and take part in an all-hands meeting. By having the entire team participate at the same time they will hear firsthand about important updates. This is important because we all know the kinds of misunderstandings that can occur when information is shared secondhand among employees.

Visible Leadership: the larger an organization the more invisible senior leaders can appear. A message delivered in-person from the CEO will have more impact than one delivered by email.

Reinforce Culture and Values: regular all-hands meetings provide a great way to reinforce the organization's culture and values. In a more broad sense, you can use town hall meetings can as an educational opportunity to reinforce the things that every employee should know.

Promote Teamwork and Collaboration: getting everyone in the same room encourages people to mingle. It also helps remote team members feel connected to the whole. By hearing someone from a different part of the organization speak, you become familiar with that person. This can encourage team members from different parts of the organization to reach out to each other to solve shared problems.

Employees Feel Engaged: the all-hands makes them feel part of the decision making process.

Unfiltered Raw Feedback: senior leaders will hear real, honest, unfiltered feedback from the team. This is very different to how information usually reaches senior leaders. It is often adjusted each time it moves up a level of management.

Everyone Can Enjoy Them: most organizations know how to get their team to work hard, but you can use these meetings as an opportunity to have fun. This again can further promote teamwork and help employee retention.

Disadvantages of Town Hall Meetings

Although there are many advantages to town hall meetings, there are also a few disadvantages:

Complexity: they can be complex to organize, especially when your team is spread across multiple time zones around the world.

Information is Filtered: the information given by members of the team isn't always unfiltered constructive feedback. Team members can often say what they think people want to hear or say things for political reasons, such as wanting to get promoted.

Social Issues: Not everyone likes to speak up in front of possibly thousands of people. To overcome this issue you can use technology, for example, a dedicated email address to ensure everyone has the opportunity to provide feedback.

Town Hall Meeting Format

There are no standard rules for holding an all-hands meeting but here are some tips which can help you.

1. Keep the Opening Short

As the leader of an organization, you may feel the need to talk, a lot! But you don't have to. Introduce the agenda so everyone knows what to expect and then jump right in. It isn't going to be fun for anyone if you're dragging things out for longer than needed.

2. Stick to Agenda Timings

A simple agenda for an all-hands might look like this:

Ensure that everyone sticks to their timings. It doesn't say much for a leadership team if they promise a 90-minute meeting that goes on for 3 hours.

3. Celebrate Successes

All-hands meetings provide an opportunity to celebrate the successes of your team, even small ones. It's great to use these meetings to drive your team harder, but that message is more likely to be well received if you've already acknowledged their successes. Especially if this is done in front of their peers.

4. Share Openly

Share information as openly and candidly as you can. It will help to build trust. Of course, it would be imprudent to share certain sensitive information, but share what you can.

5. Include Everyone

This should already be clear to you from the rest of this article, but it is important to invite everyone in the organization to the meeting. Ensure that all new hires get added to the invite list on their first day in the job.

Think how bad it would feel if you were working remotely within a strategically unimportant part of the business and you didn't receive an invite to the all-hands meeting? What kind of message do you think that sends?

6. Discuss Key Metrics

All organizations have somewhere they're trying to get to. Share your KPIs for these key initiatives so everyone understands how the organization is doing.

7. Leave room for Q & A

Leave some room on the agenda for questions and answers. Remember it's important to hear feedback from the team and to facilitate them to ask questions to clarify their understanding.

If you don't know the answer to a question then state you don't know and will get back to them. As tempting as it can be, don't try and make up an answer if you don't know it. You may feel it makes you look better to know the answer to everything, but it actually undermines your credibility if you lie.

8. Keep it Fun

All-hands meetings can be a great opportunity to have some fun. This could be getting pizza or beer for everyone at the end of the meeting and encouraging them to socialize. Or it could be giving employees the opportunity to sing or dance to showcase their other talents. Use your imagination here.

Alternative to Town Hall

If you are managing a small team then Management by Wandering Around (MBWA) can provide an alternative to all-hands meetings.

MBWA won't scale as well as town hall meetings, but they might give you better information on the fears and challenges facing your team.

Summary

Town hall meetings serve three purposes:

They allow management to share important information.

They allow employees to ask questions.

They ensure everyone understands the goals of the organization.

To be successful it is important that everyone attends the meeting. These meetings should not be a one-off event. You should hold them frequently to reinforce important points and to align new hires with the objectives of the organization.

It is also important that every all-hands meeting gives employees the opportunity to ask questions. This allows employees to feel part of the decision-making process.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
In this article, we'll look at how town hall meetings operate in an organizational context. The purpose of a town hall meeting is to allow: Management to keep their team up to date on important information. The team to ask questions of management and give their feedback.

# data[].attributes.body
posted

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Workforce demographics are changing. Each successive generation from Gen X onward has been more and more discerning about the ways their employers talk and listen to them. They have less time for office politics and they demand increased collaboration, transparency, and feedback. They're working differently, and they require tools that can set them up for success in this new environment, where internal communication plays a greater role than ever before in aligning people behind common goals. Here are seven reasons why internal communications is a key business function and is more important than ever before.

See How Innovative Communicators Are Aligning their Multi-Generational Workforces

1. The Drive for Purpose

2. Remain in Control of the Message and It's Origin

3. Empower and Support Middle Management

4. Keep the Brand Promise and Satisfy Your Customers

5. In a Crisis, Internal Communication Rules

6. Create a Better Work Environment

7. Limit Rumors and Enhance Transparency

1. The Drive for Purpose

As kids we would ask our parents the question "Why?" at least 250 times a day. (Sorry, Mom.) And it seems not much has changed in that department. The quest for a sense of reason and purpose has stayed with us into adulthood.

This certainly applies to our working lives. As employees, we want to understand our goals, know the plans for getting there, and be confident about the value of our contributions toward those plans. We want to feel valued, listened to, and part of the team. This is especially true for millennials and Gen Z, who rely heavily on feedback and interaction. Having grown up in the age of social media, they're used to a constant flow of likes, sharing, and comments.

But purpose isn't limited to showing employees their goals; it also includes visualizing the actions that each and every person can take in order to contribute. For example, it's highly effective and motivating to regularly post and share information about what a team or a company has achieved. Reaching set goals together increases the feeling of teamwork and progress.

Create great goals that are SMART: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Timely.

73 percent of employees who say they work at a "purpose-driven" company are engaged, compared to just 23 percent of those who don't. In addition, a recent global survey of 26,000 LinkedIn members, taken by the research firm Imperative, found that 73 percent of its participants want a career in which they feel that their job matters.

A well-functioning internal communications system can motivate employees to work toward common goals. By letting them in on the "why," companies can significantly engage them in the "what."

2. Remain in Control of the Message and It's Origin

Employees should never learn about important company news from an external source. But having news and information easily accessible on our smartphones and in other mobile channels anytime and anywhere is a situation that intimidates many companies. The only way to deal with it is by learning to match and even exceed that external speed and to make internal points of view readily available-not just during times of crisis, but also in day-to-day operations.

Two main ingredients are needed to ensure that information comes from the right source, is timely, and reaches all employees:

First, a well defined but flexible and fast editing process with a short approval chain up and down the hierarchy. Designing such a structure is similar to the challenge companies faced a few years ago when they had to define processes for social media to respond to a critical tweet within minutes or hours-not days.

And second, organizations need to establish fast, interactive, and reliable channels to reach all employees. Fast and interactive means digital-and today digital means mobile. As in many other cases, a combination of new procedures, skills, and technologies are needed to create trust and transparency. This enables companies to remain in control of the messages they send, instead of leaving information susceptible to individual interpretations.

3. Empower and Support Middle Management

Most companies cascade information top-down through their hierarchies. The trickle of information often results in delays, limited feedback, and a complete dependence upon the individual communication efforts of each person in the chain.

Plenty of messages are going out-the problem is that most of them aren't reaching the people who actually do the work. Internal communication can make this chain much more effective.

Empowering middle management at all times with the required resources and information available will allow them to be the best possible leaders and communicators for their staff. In addition, providing information that isn't team-specific through a location-wide or central communication channel will lighten the burden on middle management.

Internal communication presents a valuable opportunity for companies to understand their workforce better and, in doing so, train better managers. This is especially important for millennials, since they often feel ill-equipped for their new roles.

Millennials Feel Unprepared for Management Positions

Although millennials have the highest number of college graduates according to a recent Randstad and Future Workplace study, many feel unprepared to solve conflicts, negotiate, and manage other people. They believe they lack the required soft skills and aren't capable of overseeing older generations.

Good internal communication helps on several fronts, not only to better understand a workforce, but also to enable two-way conversations.

4. Keep the Brand Promise and Satisfy Your Customers

Your customers expect your brand to keep its promises. Always.

This is true for consumers and business customers alike. How do companies make sure that this works in a large distributed organization with hundreds or even thousands of middle managers? They do it through internal communications with your frontline employees.

Clearly-communicated goals, well-trained and informed staff, and happy faces will significantly improve a customer's encounter with the brand and, it stands to reason, enhance revenue.

Customer experience is the most pressing mandate for marketers. It was the top area of marketing technology investment in 2016, and it led innovation spending again in 2017. A Gartner survey has found that 89 percent of companies were expected to compete mostly on the basis of customer experience, versus 36 percent in 2013. In addition, 50% of consumer product investments are being directed to customer experience innovations.

Great brands are built from the inside out. Start with your employees and their satisfaction and confidence will be mirrored directly onto your customers.

5. In a Crisis, Internal Communication Rules

Timely and careful communication is key to mastering an internal or external crisis. The way that your employees and external stakeholders view an incident (negatively, neutrally, or positively) is a major factor in whether or not the incident develops into a full-blown crisis. However, internal crisis communication research has found that managers often communicate significantly less with employees during a crisis.
The mobile communications app of Nebraska's Adams Land & Cattle has become an instrumental piece of their crisis-intervention planing, particularly with regard to weather.
Not only can internal communication help you steer people's perceptions about a situation, but it also supports short- and long-term crisis management. Short-term management addresses the incident itself, while long-term plans are more focused on preserving the company's reputation and enacting measures in order to prevent negative situations from repeating. By putting organizational structure, plans, and channels in place before a crisis hits, internal communication will allow you to handle crisis situations, no matter the size, reputation, or industry of your company.

6. Create a Better Work Environment

A better work environment will help companies on two fronts: Avoiding high turnover rates, and attracting new talent.

Turnover rates are increasing and cost the American economy $3 billion annually. Millennials in particular are known to job-hop. Up to 40 percent say they're willing to change their position within the next two years. It's now the company's job to make them stay. "Good internal communication provides constant feedback and purpose which increases employee engagement which in turn decreases turnover rates, ultimately saving the company money."

Whether you're trying to attract talent or retain it, employees need to know their employers. A well-functioning internal communications system and the open work environment it creates will give your company an edge in today's highly competitive market.

Ultimately, there's no better advertisment for your brand than happy employees and happy customers.

7. Limit Rumors and Enhance Transparency

Informal communication has its advantages and disadvantages. Grapevine word-of-mouth can sometimes help employees to interpret managerial information; it often reaches those who might have otherwise missed the original transmission; and it's more flexible than formal communication. In addition, the grapevine helps to improve relationships between employees and it spreads knowledge and tips that can make work more effective.

On the other hand, informal communication can distort the meaning of information; it supports rumors and misunderstandings; and it's difficult to control.

Good internal communication can help increase the advantages of informal communication. It will slow down the rumor mill by communicating frequently and immediately, and it will help employees to interpret information as well as instructions.

Employees put a high premium on transparency in their interactions with different levels of management, going as far as naming it the top factor in determining their happiness and satisfaction in the workplace.

Providing both-a rumor-free environment and transparency-is central for a generation of employees (and customers) who are skeptical to the core.

Conclusion: IC Enriches Employees' Lives

Effective internal communication is a powerful force that leads to a 40 percent increase in customer satisfaction, a 30 percent increase in profitability, and a 36 percent increase in the overall performance of a company. Talking to employees no longer plays second fiddle to external communications. It's a key business function that inspires and aligns your whole organization. Internal communications professionals need to raise the bar and confidently put their ideas on the boardroom agenda.

A 2016 Internal Communication Survey found that IC budgets are more likely to be growing than shrinking in the years to come. In fact, 87 percent of the participants expected budgets to either remain at present levels or increase. With the top-down communication hierarchy slowly unraveling and younger generations moving in, internal communication and employee engagement are two topics that should be at the top of every company's list of priorities.

How is your organization dealing with the changes in internal company communication? Drop a comment in the section below. We'd love to hear from you!

Feel free to contact us if you'd like more information on how to elevate your internal communication. You might also be interested in the following articles:

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
7 Reasons Why Internal Communications Is More Important Than Ever

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Workforce demographics are changing. Each successive generation from Gen X onward has been more and more discerning about the ways their employers talk and listen to them. They have less time for office politics and they demand increased collaboration, transparency, and feedback.

# data[].attributes.body
posted

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Good communication at work plays an essential role in each and every responsibility you have.

Whether you're building relationships, managing conflict, or explaining clear objectives: you set the tone when it comes to learning why good communication skills are important.

Adding remote work into the mix, effective ways of communicating become fundamental for a positive employee experience.

To help improve both the quality and frequency of communication on your team, we put together 13 tips for effective workplace communication with an emphasis on helping distributed teams.

1. Practice authentic communication

Internal communication may often feel rehearsed, which makes some messaging less meaningful. Encourage your team to stay authentic. Not only will this help with productivity and engagement, but it will also help your team know that they can speak up when they need to.

As a manager, you set the example. Emphasize your humility and vulnerability. This will help others feel a level of approachability as well as indicates that they too can share their perspectives.

For example: When you communicate with sincerity by admitting to mistakes or not having all the answers, you establish psychological safety. This helps to level the playing field for others to do the same. Once that seed of authenticity is planted, everything from building solid relationships to having difficult conversations becomes that much easier.

2. Create a communication-friendly culture

To make sure your day-to-day is communication-friendly, set your team up with the right tools for online communication. Apps like Slack and Zoom are great for staying connected with remote employees and make communication feel accessible and collaborative even from afar.

In a communication-friendly culture, it's essential to emphasize the importance of expressing emotions, and ideas, and being unafraid to bring up difficult conversations.

Teams who show a high level of productivity have established psychological safety in their communication. In fact, many value trust and open communication and see it as integral to their team's success. This is especially true when broaching tough conversations.

Tip:

At Officevibe, we have a set of team norms that act as our guiding principles. These outline acceptable behaviours and one of these values underscore communication: "Call out the elephant in the room".

Essentially this means that we hold team members accountable to make sure we're not sweeping important issues under the rug.

3. Keep workplace communication constant

Maintain a healthy communication flow with your team. Instead of relying on annual reviews to discuss performance and goals, find the time for monthly 1-on-1s.

Holding yourself and your team accountable to stay up to date on each other's workload, morale, and resources will nurture two-way conversations. Not only does this help with employee productivity, but it also boosts employee motivation and engagement.

Don't rely on reading body language from afar. You'd be surprised how much your team has to say if 1-on-1s or team catch-ups didn't initiate important conversations.

There are also amazing tools for online communication that can help you organize your streamlining. See which one fits your team better.

4. Hold weekly team meetings

In addition to monthly one-on-one meetings, schedule the same sort of initiative but for the whole team in an open forum.

During prolonged times of uncertainty, having more frequent meetings will be helpful to re-communicate goals, and objectives, collaborate on projects and discuss shifts in strategies. This is also a great time for the team to ask questions and get on the same page.

Tip:

Individuals may feel too awkward to bring up questions in a virtual group setting. Remember, you are the leader. Normalize sharing candid thoughts by demonstrating your own curiosity. Ask your team questions that prompt reflection and leave space for them to answer.

💡 Instead of "is there anything unclear about the new strategic direction?" try "what part of the new direction is lacking clarity?" or "what excites you about our upcoming projects?'

Also, if you're working remotely, your team might be missing some of the benefits of physical meetings. You need to be ready to smoothly transition to the future of work: a hybrid reality that includes remote work and periodic face-to-face interactions.

Incorporating co-working spaces that enable productive and efficient collaboration, could be the best approach to combining remote and physical work.

5. Offer a platform for anonymous feedback

Allowing anonymous feedback is crucial for effective workplace communication. Sometimes, employees shy away from sharing feedback.

They might be hesitant to make a complaint or divulge their authentic thoughts and emotions openly. In this case, the option for anonymity facilitates the process of sharing more difficult sentiments, which are key insights for managers.

1. Our anonymous feedback tool allows employees to share their thoughts anonymously, and lets managers respond to the feedback directly in the platform. Opening up a dialogue about issues in real-time helps start important conversations before problems become too big.

2. Answering feedback isn't always easy. Our latest Feedback Guidance Feature guides managers in responding to all sorts of feedback. We'll always be there to guide you, but you'll improve over time, and eventually, answering even the toughest feedback will become natural to you.

3. We believe in meaningful, effective, and collaborative communication, always. Our one-on-one tool lets managers and employees set talking points in a collaborative agenda and even helps managers kick-start discussions with dozens of Conversation Starters that are proven to promote solution-finding and openness.

6. Ask for employee feedback

Effective communication is never top-down or one-way. Always give the team the chance to give you, their leader, feedback.

For example: Ask teams to communicate their feedback on your performance as a manager. Or ask them to share their input on the upcoming strategy you presented. The idea is to keep lines of communication open and get rid of hierarchical barriers. Everyone has something to learn, especially managers.

💥We created a Toolbox for managers with frameworks, guides, templates, and checklists to get them through their most common management challenges.

7. Communicate face-to-face

Using tools like Slack and email is efficient, however, they're not the most ideal for building lasting connections.

It's important to remember that face-to-face communication holds a great amount of value when it comes to sincerity and authenticity. In-person conversations aren't always accessible, but there are ways to facilitate this in a remote work environment.

Part of effective communication is human interaction. With this in mind, try speaking instead of typing as often as possible without disrupting the flow of work.

This will further facilitate getting to know your team's body language, personality, and tone. It's especially helpful when it comes to giving feedback.

Tip:

If you can't be face-to-face, try hosting video calls rather than phone calls. They help to reduce distractions during important conversations and strengthen peer-to-peer interactions when you and your employees can't physically be in the office.

8. Master your body language

Non-verbal communication is important. Your body language has a huge impact on how people perceive you and gauge reactions.

Communicate with physical presence and ensure that your body language is open and approachable. When working remotely, your body language speaks volumes. Here are a few key points to keep in mind:

Smile (if you're feeling it). Seeing your teammate smiling back at you is comforting!

Keep your arms uncrossed to demonstrate openness

Maintain an upright posture to show your engagement

Maintain eye contact. Looking into the camera when you speak and looking at the person speaking when it's their turn shows that you're present.

Turn off device notifications to minimize distractions

9. Know when less is more

In a perfect world, employees can power down after work hours and stop checking emails. The truth is, many of us are so connected to our jobs and our devices.

The line between a healthy work-life balance gets blurred even further while we're working from home. Building a boundary is helpful to achieve a healthy work-life balance. Make sure you keep the number of emails you send after core hours to a minimum. While communication is important, rest is equally a priority.

According to data we collected during the transition to remote work, 32% of employees don't feel they have a proper balance between their work and personal life. As a manager, employees look to you to lead by example and help draw clear boundaries.

10. Take time to listen

One of the most essential and meaningful elements of communication is practicing active listening. It's like the old adage: we have two ears and only one mouth for a reason. Listening to your team gives them the space to share honest and transparent feedback.

Bonus: it shows empathy and promotes healthy professional relationships with humility at the base.
Here are 3 quick tips to help you be a more active listener:

1. Normalize comfortable silences: Leaders might dominate conversations. It's important to lead by listening. Open-air gives people time to reflect and think about how they can contribute to the conversation.

2. Be present: It may seem obvious, but listening means focusing on the interaction in front of you. Put your phone away, turn your notifications off, and dedicate your attention to being here, now.

3. Confirm what you know: Repeat what's been brought up. Let the other person know that you were truly listening by confirming what you heard. This ensures you're both on the same page and can move forward with clarity.

11. Personalize your communications

Understanding your employees' individual communication style takes time.

Great leaders know that it's worth being patient. Being mindful of the way you communicate and how this will land with the people you speak to, goes a long way and has a big impact. Consider this:

Employee A might prefer to communicate in a private space and appreciate specific examples when receiving feedback.

Employee B might like to walk and talk during difficult conversations because it requires less direct eye contact, rendering the conversation less formal.

Employee C might have a hard time communicating altogether. This would be a good time to work on communication techniques as part of their development.

One way to discover each employee's communication preference is to ask:

What is the best way I can share feedback with you?

What is most important to you when it comes to communication at work?

What do you find difficult about communicating?

12. Set aside time for non-work related discussions

Employees are multidimensional people. That person from marketing might have interesting travel stories, or that new person on your team might be working towards a big personal fitness goal.

Whatever the case may be, knowing that you're communicating with people initiates empathy. Talking about topics beyond the scope of work leads to positive relationships and strong team dynamics.

Try this activity:

Ask everyone to share a piece of information that no one at work knows about them. Write it down on a piece of paper. Throw it into a bowl. Shuffle each piece of paper around. Now, work together to guess who it belongs to. You'll be surprised what you learn about each other! You can even draw names in a remote setting using a tool like Name Picker.

13. Prioritize workplace communication training

Emphasize the importance of communicating effectively with your team. This is especially important for managers to nip bad habits in the bud.

At Officevibe, we're enrolled in Conscious Communication training (also known as Non-Violent Communication training). Initially, the program was limited to our managers, but the benefits were so great that now 300+ employees are taking part in a two-day workshop! The goal is for everybody to become more self-aware when it comes to communication. We've especially noted the impact our choice of words has on teams.

Effective communication leads to engaged employees. It helps everyone understand what's going on in the company and what's expected of each other.

It helps us build relationships, have tough conversations, and successfully tackle problems. It removes ambiguity, stress, and confusion that is compounded while working remotely. Communication is the thread that ties through all successful teams.

Our feedback guide helps you put these tips into practice. Check it out and tell us about your experience!

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
How to improve communication in the workplace

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Improving your communication at work is easy! Check out our 13 tips for managers to make communication engaging and productive for your team.

# data[].attributes.body
posted

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
And without that glue, things can get a little messy around the office. For example, if tasks and expectations aren't communicated clearly, you might find your employees running around like chickens with their heads cut off instead of working.

Better communication between employees can fix this. But, for those of you who already have a consistent strategy in practice, how do you know whether or not what you're doing is working?

Regardless, there's a good chance your communication strategy has room for improvement. In fact, the majority of organizations spend significantly more time and money on external communications - leaving internal communications as an afterthought.

Below are five symptoms that might indicate that your company has a communication problem:

Lack of engagement in company events,
volunteer and employee challenges

Company events and activities make employees feel connected to one another. They can help organizations operate as a cohesive team, rather than individual cogs in a machine.

Ask yourself, how many employees showed up to your latest Holiday party? How many chose to participate in the recent company-wide wellness challenge, or volunteered at your organization's annual food drive?

Low levels of engagement in such events might indicate that your employees didn't resonate with or receive the message. Did you send the information out via email and text message? Or, was word of mouth the main driver of engagement? Audit your communication channels to ensure everyone is informed.

Perhap s your delivery is to blame. If your email announcement used a drab font, zero visuals and too much industry jargon, some employees might have exited out of the message immediately.

It's also important to clearly connect the company mission with the reason why the employee event is being hosted.

Next time a company event or challenge comes around, pay attention to the employee engagement rate. Remember that planning such affairs takes time, so it's important to be intentional about achieving a successful outcome.

Low enrollment rate of benefits

In addition to a paycheck, companies compensate their team members in other ways - such as discounts, perks and benefits that keep them happy and healthy.

If it's offered, why wouldn't 100 percent of eligible employees properly participate in company programs?

You've guessed it. The biggest reason for this is poor communication. Many people are unaware of what exactly their benefits package consists of.

If team members don't know which benefits options are available, they won't be taking advantage of them fully (which could mean wasted money on an organizational level.)

Benefits can be a daunting task for some to comprehend, so it's important that benefits information is easy to access. Whether it be found on a static webpage or an employee app, there ought to be a "go-to spot."

Also, not everyone reads the fine print. Make sure you are communicating lesser known benefits information in a dynamic, eye-catching manner.

Costly errors

If employees have been making mistakes more frequently, it might be a sign that they lack clear direction and expectations from management.

These errors can be reduced with a streamlined internal communications workflow. Perhaps your organization should swap out its outdated communication tool in favor of technology that's more user-friendly?

For example in one case, a miscommunication in New Jersey led to a loss of $200 million to the state budget. Yikes.

Remember, mistakes happen less when everyone is on the same page.

Retention issues

If your business has a high turnover rate , it's possible that your internal communications strategy is not as cohesive as desired. People leave companies when they feel insignificant, confused and taken for granted.

Good internal communication connects employees to the company's greater purpose - which a Gallup study says the majority of employers want.

Ask yourself, when was the last time C-Suite shared the "why" behind their decision? And was the average employee notified when the media mentioned your organization?

Sharing "high level" information such as this is integral for invoking camaraderie and purpose in teams.

Low productivity

Lastly, an organization's overall productivity level will be affected by the strength of its internal communication.

For teams where energy and results have taken a dip, take a look at what kind of messaging they've been receiving lately from higher-ups. Low productivity rates have been linked to poor company communication and employee disengagement.

It's a leader's job to motivate and communicate with the entire team. Clear communication is motivating, comprehensive and will propel employees to give their absolute best.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Five Symptoms of Poor Internal Communications

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
And without that glue, things can get a little messy around the office. For example, if tasks and expectations aren't communicated clearly, you might find your employees running around like chickens with their heads cut off instead of working. Better communication between employees can fix this.

# data[].attributes.body
posted

# data[].attributes.body
posted

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
by Brandon Rigoni and Jim Asplund

Story Highlights

Internal communication about strengths should be both formal and informal

The most effective communication is thoughtful and strategic

Leaders need to regularly remind employees of strengths concepts

This is the third article in a seven-part series.

In a global study of companies that have implemented strengths-based management practices, Gallup found that 90% of the groups studied had performance increases at or above the following ranges:

10% to 19% increase in sales

14% to 29% increase in profit

3% to 7% higher customer engagement

6% to 16% less turnover (in low-turnover organizations)

26% to 72% less turnover (in high-turnover organizations)

9% to 15% increase in engaged employees

22% to 59% fewer safety incidents

Even at the low end, these are impressive gains. In working with hundreds of organizations, Gallup uncovered the characteristics common among companies that have accomplished the most with their strengths interventions. These companies often work toward creating a strengths-based culture using seven strategies. This article focuses on the third of these seven strengths strategies: internal communication.
Generating Awareness and Enthusiasm Companywide
It's a simple notion: When companies consistently talk about strengths concepts, employees use their strengths more often. Internal communication about strengths should occur both formally and informally, with strengths infused into everything from hallway conversations to official business strategies.

Leadership's communication about strengths at a broad level is vital. For example, leaders should discuss their own performance goals in terms of their strengths. This consistent messaging encourages everyone to buy in. In addition, informal references to strengths should be an everyday occurrence. Leaders and managers are responsible for providing the resources for and enthusiasm about daily strengths conversations.
Best Practices for Powerful Internal Communication
Be strategic. Leaders with the most effective strengths communication are thoughtful and strategic, proactively considering how communication flows through the company and developing their communication plan accordingly. These leaders go beyond companywide email announcements about strengths; they enlist influential employees, high-profile teams and prominent leaders to help garner enthusiasm for strengths.

These leaders also predict and avert communication roadblocks. Optimal strengths communication is purposeful, with leaders fostering an environment in which employees discuss strengths daily.

Explain not only what and why, but also how. Leaders and managers should start by explaining what strengths are and why the organization is building a strengths-based culture. Then, they need to ensure employees know how to incorporate strengths in their day-to-day work and how to leverage strengths to accomplish goals.

To achieve strengths-based performance gains, employees need to bring strengths to life -- and this takes strengths education. Importantly, "what, why and how" messages should not be generic; rather, companies should individualize conversations to each employee's role. For example, managers use their strengths for different purposes than front-line workers do and need customized strengths education.

Onboarding is a critical time for strengths education, so leaders should ensure all new employees learn about strengths starting on day one.

Make strengths memorable. Every organization has a unique culture, so it is important for leaders to communicate about strengths in ways that make sense. For some, it means incorporating elements of humor with catchy sayings or branded t-shirts; others might need a more direct, disciplined approach, such as connecting company strengths to business outcomes during investor calls.

It can be helpful to incorporate strengths as a strategy to accomplish other well-known company objectives so that leveraging strengths becomes the how as the company wrestles with what everyone knows must get done.

Communicating the benefits and importance of strengths can require consistent effort over many months. Today's busy employees have less time to focus on corporate communications, so it is important for leaders to be mindful that other organizational messages may confuse employees by competing with strengths as a strategy.

Tell success stories and recognize strengths-based achievements. Real-life examples about strengths demonstrate to employees that a strengths-based culture really works. For example, a manager can highlight "strengths in action" by publicly recognizing a team member for leveraging his or her strengths to make a lasting difference. Infusing strengths into employee recognition is a winning communication strategy that motivates employees to tap into what they do best.

Share positive strengths-based outcomes with credibility. Part of gaining employee buy-in for strengths involves communicating the hard facts about how strengths-based cultures realize business and customer benefits. Messages about these outcomes are often most effective when they come from very credible sources, such as a CFO or other employee whose role involves bottom-line outcomes. Trustworthy communication fosters ownership among employees and encourages them to do their part in realizing the business benefits of strengths.

Repeat, repeat, repeat. As with any company initiative, consistent communication is essential. Leaders need to regularly remind employees of strengths concepts, such as how to infuse strengths into goals, team assignments and performance management processes. Leaders should constantly reiterate the importance of strengths and never assume employees know the "what, why and how" behind them.
The next article in this series will focus on building broad strengths communities within organizations. Bailey Nelson contributed to this article.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Companywide Communication: Key to Strengths Development

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
by Brandon Rigoni and Jim Asplund Story Highlights Internal communication about strengths should be both formal and informal The most effective communication is thoughtful and strategic Leaders need to regularly remind employees of strengths concepts This is the third article in a seven-part series.

# data[].attributes.body
posted

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Long term internal communications planning is often undervalued or neglected. Yet, there are so many benefits of a well designed communications plan. When executed correctly, it helps employees understand the bigger picture and the part they play. Meanwhile leaders gain a stronger perspective in how to motivate, inspire, and engage employees.

But as nice as it would be, communication plans don't just happen overnight. Building trust and credibility requires tremendous effort, preparation and coordination.

Whether you are a seasoned communications expert, or are creating your first ever internal communications plan, it's always worth revisiting your strategy. Employees come and go, and communication needs change with each generation. Communication technology also is changing at a faster pace, forcing us to all rethink how we approach this subject.

Below are four things to consider when planning your next long term internal communications strategy:
Set goals
Just like any other business plan, your internal communications plan must include goals, deadlines, and responsibilities. If you are familiar with goal setting on any level, you likely know the SMART goal setting methodology. This is where you make goals Simple, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and Timely. It's also worth strategically thinking about each goal, and then asking questions. For example, why does a particular goal matter? Why is it important that this goal is reached within a certain time period?
Invest in the right tools
It is important to assess all the communication tools you have at your disposal. Depending on the size of your organization, this can include email, newsletters, company magazines, intranets, and video communication. You should also make sure that the tool(s) work for every department; at least when it comes to company wide communication. If you are using an enterprise video platform, now is a good time to leverage this tool and give serious consideration to how your are using it. Is it used for CEO town hall meetings? Do all employees know how to access content? Do employees know how to search for important and relevant videos? And, are employees commenting on existing videos?
Consider the upcoming year
Will there be growth? Will there be change? How does your communication strategy support that change? Change can happen unexpectedly, as is the case with things like mergers and acquisitions. It is often during these times, that communication plans are truly put through the test. And while you may not have a crystal ball to predict such change, you can spend some time considering what a plan may be look like if a drastic change were to occur. A mock run through should reveal who receives the message, and how quickly news disseminates.
Keep it inclusive
It's easy to get lost in the planning of internal communications and forget a department or two-especially when departments, team, or employees work remotely, or do not have desk based jobs. However to truly be inclusive, your plan must include and reach all employees. Different employees may require different communication platforms and tools, but there should be no department or employee that is considered unimportant. Every employee deserves good communication.

What are you doing to ensure the success of your internal communications plan?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Planning Your Organization's Long Term Internal Communications Strategy | MediaPlatform

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Long term internal communications planning is often undervalued or neglected. Yet, there are so many benefits of a well designed communications plan. When executed correctly, it helps employees understand the bigger picture and the part they play. Meanwhile leaders gain a stronger perspective in how to motivate, inspire, and engage employees.

# data[].attributes.body
posted

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
10 Reasons Your Organization Needs an Internal Newsletter

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Every organization needs an internal newsletter to avoid miscommunication, misaligned values, and a host of other issues.

# data[].attributes.body
posted

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
An increasing number of companies are taking steps to improve their internal communication. However, most companies are not very clear about one thing: Who is responsible for internal communication?

The top leadership at many companies believes that human resources should be responsible for internal communication. After all, HR is the custodian of culture, right?

However, this is not entirely true. Leaving internal communication entirely in the hands of HR will give your company extremely limited results. HR might take the lead, but for internal communication to truly flourish, it has to be a company-wide effort.

The following groups of people are responsible for the success of internal communication:

1. Top Management

Absence of the top leadership's support is a key reason why internal communication fails to take off.

Internal communication is essentially about fostering conversations. The simplest way in which the top leaders can help is by initiating those conversations. They should make more frequent announcements and updates about the status of the company and the industry and invite people to share their thoughts on those updates.

For example, the company's CEO can make a weekly video address about the key updates across divisions. This video can be hosted on the company's internal communication platform like Smarp, where people can leave their comments and ask questions, and the CEO can respond directly to those questions.

Employees will only speak up freely if they are invited to do so. The top bosses have to take the lead and extend those invitations.

2. Human Resources

As internal communication grows in importance, it now plays a central role in the employee retention strategies of many the world's best places to work. HR teams know that employee engagement, retention and internal communication go hand in hand and therefore they are taking the lead in playing far more than just a transactional role in internal communication.

Traditionally, HR has been responsible for communicating messages related to performance management, administrative announcements, etc. but now they are doing so much more.
HR now facilitates internal communication in the following ways:

HR is now taking the lead in deploying the shared technology and processes to facilitate internal communication. This includes deploying a shared internal communication platform, such as Smarp which makes it super-easy for people to communicate.

HR is responsible for creating an internal communication strategy and plan - which includes periodic activities, milestones and measurement metrics.

In more mature organizations, HR is helping top management with their periodic communication. HR teams help formulate messages as well as coach top leaders on the best way to deliver their messages.

HR is responsible for recruiting and it's using internal communication and Employee Advocacy to support the recruiting function. It's helping define the right messages that are sent out as part of the company's employer value proposition. It also makes sure that the right criteria for recruitment are met, so that newer employees are a fit with the company's internal communication culture. After all, culture plays a vital role in internal communication.

3. Team Managers

For any initiative to succeed it must be addressed at a macro as well as at a micro level. The top management and HR can help establish the framework and take the lead, but the managers have to take it to the next step.

Here are two ways in which managers can contribute:

#1 Encourage internal communication within teams

Two of the key principles of internal communication are transparency and freedom of expression. Employees should feel that their opinions matter. Before they have the confidence to express their thoughts and ideas to the top management, they should feel confident enough to talk openly with their immediate bosses. Managers should encourage their team members to speak up and share their ideas.

For instance, if a manager has an unrealistic expectation about a sales plan for the coming quarter, employees should be able to point out the flaws in that plan, and suggest better ideas.

#2 Create micro communication channels

Managers also need to encourage communication between departments, so that people do not work in silos. If the marketing team needs information from the product team for creating a campaign, they should be able to access that information quickly, without having to go through a convoluted process. This can be easily facilitated if a product manager and a marketing manager come to an understanding and agree to work together.

Conclusion

Different groups within a company are responsible for different aspects of internal communication. The people who are shaping a company's communication strategy have to actively involve all these groups. Companies who win at internal communication have realized a simple fact - that it's a team sport!

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Who is Responsible for Internal Communication?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
An increasing number of companies are taking steps to improve their internal communication. However, most companies are not very clear about one thing: Who is responsible for internal communication? The top leadership at many companies believes that human resources should be responsible for internal communication. After all, HR is the custodian of culture, right?

# data[].attributes.body
posted

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Improve Your Top-Down Strategy with Internal Communication Standards

Mastering communication at work is not as easy as you might think, but it's crucial for employee satisfaction and business success. Research has proven time and again that effective communication practices directly affect an organization's financial performance. And in order to be effective, business leaders need to create and follow internal communication standards.

Following strategic policies and procedures ensures everyone at the company is informed and engaged, no matter if they are in an office, working remote, or on the frontline facing customers each day. A recent study from Zogby analytics found that while 71% of managers consider themselves informed on company-wide news, only 40% of frontline employees claim the same.

To prevent both miscommunication and a lack of communication at your org, follow these 8 steps to create effective internal communication standards that guide all top-down updates.

1. Set Your Goals

What communication goals are important to your organization? Are departments siloed from each other? Do employees feel disconnected from the company culture? Is there a lack of trust and transparency coming from leadership? Identify the weaknesses in your company's current communication patterns and set goals for improvement. These goals will help inform the following steps.

2. Decide Who Needs to Know What Information

Identify which kinds of updates should be sent to everyone, such as a message from the CEO, and which kinds need to be segmented by department, region, or team, such as a regional policy change. The more targeted messages are -so that information only goes to the employees that it concerns-the more effective communications will be.

3. Establish How Quickly Information Should Be Shared

How quickly should employees be made aware of different kinds of updates? Some news needs to be shared immediately, such as a new benefits enrollment plan from HR or the announcement of an acquisition. Other updates could have a natural cadence such as weekly, monthly, quarterly or annually. An example might be reminders for regular product training certifications that are due by a specific date.

4. Set Guidelines for The Way Information Will Be Delivered

There are various updates that internal communications leaders need to get out. Whether it's organizational restructuring, earnings reports or congratulatory messages, decide which types of updates need to be shared in-person and which can be delivered online.

When conference calls and face-to-face meetings are required, how will those meeting details be shared with the workforce? If an email is sent, will everyone read it? Consider new communication modes like one-to-many broadcasts that instantly capture your employees' attention.

5. Select What Software Will Be Used to Communicate with Dispersed Teams

What software or applications will be used for sending information? The communication technology your company uses can have a profound impact on the success of your overall communication strategy, so it's important to spend some time here.

There are a range of technical requirements for enterprise communication platforms and key characteristics that make some a better choice than others. Above all, the software you choose has to be secure as well as intuitive so that employees actually use it.

To decide what technology to use, conduct an audit of your company's current communication tools to identify deficiencies and opportunities for improvement. You may find that different departments use different tools (some on Slack, some on Skype, and others on WhatsApp) and that you can cut costs by deploying a single solution across the workforce. Of course, there are many benefits to having everyone use the same software platform and protocol.

You may also find that a large segment of your workforce is completely shut out. For companies that have deskless workers, such as field service organizations, this happens all the time. Information that is sent over email or via an intranet simply goes unread because these workers are on mobile devices, not desktops.

Additionally, don't forget to think about communication holistically across the entire organization. Choosing an app built solely for top-down communication can have the side effect of employees never checking it because they don't need to use it to get their work done. Consider:

How employees will talk to each other

How managers will talk to their teams

How corporate will push updates out to the workforce

Rather than forcing multiple apps on employees, it may be worthwhile to find a company communication app that combines all of these communication functions into one app.

6. Set Guidelines For Which Communication Modes Should Be Used

For updates that don't require an in-person meeting, what online communication mode will be used? There are a myriad of modes to choose from including conference calls, top-down broadcasts, group chats, and of course old-school email. Decide which methods are appropriate for the message. For non-urgent updates that are team-specific, a group message may suffice. For an urgent safety alert, a broadcast that instantly alerts employees is a better choice. Provide guidelines for which modes to use so that those in charge of pushing out updates can be as effective as possible.

7. Identify Who Will Own Different Top-Down Communications

Who will own the different types of updates? Identify the exact employees across HR, corporate communications, and management who will be in charge of getting updates out to the workforce. This prevents information gaps as well duplicate emails regarding the same topic.

8. Factor in How Employee Feedback Will Be Collected

Lastly, how will corporate gather employee feedback? Issuing surveys, holding live Q&A sessions, and having designated group messaging channels for feedback are all options. Don't be afraid to adjust your internal business communication standards to better accommodate employees. Regularly check in and make sure employees are getting the information they need and adjust your strategy when necessary.

Get Your Internal Communication Standards Off the Ground

With a communication strategy and procedures in place, you can ensure employees stay informed and engaged. Many organizations suffer from low retention rates and uninformed workers, which leads to low productivity and costs the organization thousands per month.

By thinking through corporate communication strategies and creating guidelines that help employees get information out effectively, you can turn around those metrics. Companies like BlueLine Rental and Vivint Smart Home have completely transformed their company culture and employee retention by putting strategy and effective technology behind their communication processes.

Listen to the CEO of BlueLine Rental talk about the communication changes he made in this episode of the Essential podcast:

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
8-Step Guide to Developing Internal Communication Standards - Zinc

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Mastering communication at work is not as easy as you might think, but it's crucial for employee satisfaction and business success. Research has proven time and again that effective communication practices directly affect an organization's financial performance. And in order to be effective, business leaders need to create and follow internal communication standards.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
This recent Interact/Harris Poll tells the whole story about the current state of managers.

BY Marcel Schwantes - 10 Aug 2017

PHOTO CREDIT: Getty Images

Think about it: Good communication is everything in the workplace. Clear direction and expectations can't happen without it. Teamwork and morale take a hit in its absence. And productivity ultimately suffers without it.

It's also the one critical skill that 91 percent of 1000 employees in a recent Interact/Harris Poll said their leaders lack -- communication.

Drilling down further, the survey results indicate a much deeper issue: a lack of emotional intelligence (EQ) in how business leaders and managers communicate, leading to many dysfunctions.

The Problem

Respondents said the communication issues that impair effective leadership are as follows:

Not recognizing employee achievements -- reported by 63 percent of respondents
Not giving clear directions -- 57 percent
Not having time to meet with employees -- 52 percent
Refusing to talk to subordinates -- 51 percent
Taking credit for others' ideas -- 47 percent
Not offering constructive criticism -- 39 percent
Not knowing employees' names -- 36 percent
Refusing to talk to people on the phone/in person -- 34 percent
Not asking about employees' lives outside of work -- 23 percent

Employees also called out other management offenses stemming from low EQ: Micromanaging, bullying, narcissism, indecisiveness, and more.

The Solution

Healthy and productive communication requires connection and authenticity. It means being intentional about inclusion, praise and recognition, meaningful interaction, and two-way feedback.

The study's author and CEO of Interact, Lou Solomon, offered these gold nuggets in an article she wrote for Harvard Business Review:

1. Offer specific praise. "Great job" and other "atta-boys" and "atta-girls" just aren't enough to satisfy people who put their heart and soul into their work. Instead, be specific about their contributions when praising employees.

2. Give personal and public thank yous. whether walking out to the parking lot together or grabbing lunch, make it personal and heartfelt. Try public recognition at a staff meeting, or a thoughtful "thank you" in a newsletter, e-mail, or on yellow sticky notes in employees' offices.

3. Ask employees for their opinions. Leaders need make a habit of asking employees for their opinions and ideas on issues or roadblocks to success. Ask: "How do you think we could improve?" "What is keeping us stuck?" and "What do you love about the work that we're doing here?"

4. Share information. Important information is often withheld from employees until the last minute, which can hurt morale and cause anxiety. Leaders will gain more respect from their team if they share as much information as possible as soon as they can.

5. Provide feedback on an ongoing basis. Besides the dreaded performance review, leaders that give their staff ongoing feedback, and coach them to good performance throughout the employee performance cycle, will see great success.

6. Show your humanity. Leaders that are smart, and who can admit mistakes and who can laugh at their own mistakes, will gain the respect of their employees at a much quicker rate. Employees like and trust leaders and who are generous with what life has taught them.

7. Get to know your employees by name. Calling people by their name shows them you are giving them your attention, and are also connecting with them on an individual basis. If the company is too big to know everyone's name, start with the people in close proximity.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Survey: 91 Percent of 1,000 Employees Say Their Bosses Lack This 1 Critical Skill

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
This recent Interact/Harris Poll tells the whole story about the current state of managers. BY Marcel Schwantes - 10 Aug 2017 PHOTO CREDIT: Getty Images Think about it: Good communication is everything in the workplace. Clear direction and expectations can't happen without it. Teamwork and morale take a hit in its absence.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
It's no secret a lot of us hate meetings. According to the National Statistics Council, 37% of employee time is spent in meetings, and 47% of employees consider too many meetings to be the biggest waste of time during the day-more than social media or email.

Some innovative leaders have found ways to make meetings a little more bearable as well as productive. Take a look at what these 12 companies do to boost the effectiveness of the dreaded meeting.

They Make Them Memorable

Employees of TINYpulse, an employee engagement software provider, rarely forget a meeting because the company starts them at an odd time. The company's daily staff meeting, for example, starts at 8:48 a.m.

"It's eliminated tardiness almost completely," says communications manager Neal McNamara. "It's strange, but at 8:48, everyone in our office seems to rise simultaneously and move toward our meeting area. There's definitely a Pavlovian aspect to the odd meeting time."

Related: Seven Secrets For Making Meetings Less Awful

Every Thursday, baby food manufacturer Plum Organics gets out coloring books and holds a creative-thinking meeting where staff members color, talk, and decompress. Innovation director Jen Brush says the hour has been extremely important to the company's new product development.

"It's proven that coloring during a meeting helps promote active listening, and is more beneficial than multitasking on something like email," she says.

At chat software provider LivePerson, leaders decided that meetings were a good opportunity for staff members to get to know each other better. Using a technique called "connection before content," the leader poses a question at the start of a meeting designed to get people out of their comfort zones. For example, "What are your doubts about something you're working on?" The exercise has been so effective that the company shared the idea with its customers.

It's proven that coloring during a meeting helps promote active listening.

Josh Neblett, cofounder and CEO of the e-commerce company Etailz, uses the last 10 minutes of his company meetings for Q&A. If no one has a question, the remaining time turns into a stare-off.

"All managers claim they have an open-door policy; my experience is that sounds good and may make you feel good about yourself, but unless you engage employees, the reality is the vast majority are not going to take advantage," says Neblett. "This mindset is true in group settings, as well. If no one has questions initially, I'll just look around and stare at people awkwardly until the first couple of questions come out. The questions always end up being useful and universally applicable, but sometimes it takes a couple minutes for the dam to break."

True to their culture, employees at mobile game publisher Genera Games hold their meetings on the basketball court, shooting hoops and playing a quick game.

"We try to keep our meeting focused and fun," says Daniel Entrenas, Genera's indie labs manager. "By getting the blood flowing, we also allow ourselves to think outside the box and get more creative with our ideas."

They Make Them Effective

Brivo, a security management software provider, keeps meetings on point with its "No Rehash" rule. Employees signal to others that a topic has already been addressed by raising the "No Rehash" Ping-Pong paddle.

"I started noticing that we kept making many of the same decisions over and over again," says president and CEO Steve Van Till, who instituted the rule by giving "No Rehash" paddles to everyone in the company. "It's a visual reminder, but more importantly it empowers everyone in the company to call out counterproductive rehashing whenever and wherever they see it. The big time savings is that no one has to justify invoking the rule itself, and the meeting can proceed with earlier decisions intact."

At the Inquisium division of Cvent, employees are rarely late to meetings. That's because Darrell Gehrt, vice president of the survey software provider, has an unusual punishment for anyone who wanders in after the start.

I implemented the policy of having to sing when you came in late. We've heard the national anthem, happy birthday, and nursery rhymes.

"There was a culture of coming to meetings 10-plus minutes late, which is both unproductive and disruptive," he says. "I implemented the policy of having to sing when you came in late. We've heard the national anthem, happy birthday, and nursery rhymes. The biggest downside is that it has been so effective, we rarely get the opportunity to make anyone sing these days."

During meetings at Keller-Williams Realty, anyone whose phone rings must make a donation to KW Cares, the company's charitable foundation. Spokesman Darryl Frost says the policy cuts down on interruptions during meetings.

"When it happens, it supports our corporate nonprofit," he says. "It's a win-win."

They Make Them Short

At O3 World, a digital design and product development agency, the conference room is hooked up to a technology the company created called Roombot. The app reads everyone's Google Calendar and warns meeting participants when it's time to wrap up. Roombot also controls the lighting in the room, dimming the bulbs in the final minutes of the meeting.

"Roombot creates more urgency and structure to the team's calendars," says Keith Scandone, partner/CEO. "Instead of having a line of people waiting outside a conference room, this is a fun way to remind people to wrap up their meeting and get ready for the next group of people to occupy the space."

The staff at Tripping.com, the search engine for vacation rentals, sets a stopwatch for 30 minutes at the beginning of each meeting to maximize everyone's time. If the meeting goes longer, the person who called the meeting must throw $5 in the team beer jar.

Founder and CEO Jen O'Neal says saving time is value-woven into the company's culture: "This makes our meetings more productive and our happy hours more fun," she says. "Total win-win."

If we run over, the last person talking has to do 50 pushups.

Business development consulting firm Just Fearless also sets a time limit for meetings-usually 30 minutes. Founder Kisha Mays says if the meeting runs long, the chairs are removed and everyone must stand until the end.

"This keeps meetings from being drawn out and without a set purpose and agenda," says Mays. "Whether we're in the office or meeting in a public place, the rule still applies. My staff tends to stay on time because no one wants to stand-especially in a public place with those nearby seated and staring."

Buddytruk, a mobile app that connects users with people who have a truck, holds meetings every Friday morning to discuss a weekly recap. It, too, has a method for keeping meetings on time.

"If we run over, the last person talking has to do 50 pushups," says creative director C.J. Johnson. "At first it was just a funny gag. Now, it's turned into a great bonding experience."

Related: 7 Sure-Fire Ways To Get A Meeting With Anyone

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
How 12 Companies Make Meetings Memorable, Effective, And Short

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
It's no secret a lot of us hate meetings. According to the National Statistics Council, 37% of employee time is spent in meetings, and 47% of employees consider too many meetings to be the biggest waste of time during the day-more than social media or email.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
In this article, we'll look at how town hall meetings operate in an organizational context. The purpose of a town hall meeting is to allow:

Management to keep their team up to date on important information.

The team to ask questions of management and give their feedback.

Everyone to understand the goals and values of the organization.

Town hall meetings also go by the name of All-Hands meetings. The term "all-hands" captures exactly who needs to attend the town hall meeting. Everyone!

We'll use the terms "all-hands" and "town hall" interchangeably throughout the rest of this article.

Advantages of Town Hall Meetings

Town hall meetings have many advantages:

Important Updates are Shared Firsthand: technology can enable even remote teams to listen and take part in an all-hands meeting. By having the entire team participate at the same time they will hear firsthand about important updates. This is important because we all know the kinds of misunderstandings that can occur when information is shared secondhand among employees.

Visible Leadership: the larger an organization the more invisible senior leaders can appear. A message delivered in-person from the CEO will have more impact than one delivered by email.

Reinforce Culture and Values: regular all-hands meetings provide a great way to reinforce the organization's culture and values. In a more broad sense, you can use town hall meetings can as an educational opportunity to reinforce the things that every employee should know.

Promote Teamwork and Collaboration: getting everyone in the same room encourages people to mingle. It also helps remote team members feel connected to the whole. By hearing someone from a different part of the organization speak, you become familiar with that person. This can encourage team members from different parts of the organization to reach out to each other to solve shared problems.

Employees Feel Engaged: the all-hands makes them feel part of the decision making process.

Unfiltered Raw Feedback: senior leaders will hear real, honest, unfiltered feedback from the team. This is very different to how information usually reaches senior leaders. It is often adjusted each time it moves up a level of management.

Everyone Can Enjoy Them: most organizations know how to get their team to work hard, but you can use these meetings as an opportunity to have fun. This again can further promote teamwork and help employee retention.

Disadvantages of Town Hall Meetings

Although there are many advantages to town hall meetings, there are also a few disadvantages:

Complexity: they can be complex to organize, especially when your team is spread across multiple time zones around the world.

Information is Filtered: the information given by members of the team isn't always unfiltered constructive feedback. Team members can often say what they think people want to hear or say things for political reasons, such as wanting to get promoted.

Social Issues: Not everyone likes to speak up in front of possibly thousands of people. To overcome this issue you can use technology, for example, a dedicated email address to ensure everyone has the opportunity to provide feedback.

Town Hall Meeting Format

There are no standard rules for holding an all-hands meeting but here are some tips which can help you.

1. Keep the Opening Short

As the leader of an organization, you may feel the need to talk, a lot! But you don't have to. Introduce the agenda so everyone knows what to expect and then jump right in. It isn't going to be fun for anyone if you're dragging things out for longer than needed.

2. Stick to Agenda Timings

A simple agenda for an all-hands might look like this:

Ensure that everyone sticks to their timings. It doesn't say much for a leadership team if they promise a 90-minute meeting that goes on for 3 hours.

3. Celebrate Successes

All-hands meetings provide an opportunity to celebrate the successes of your team, even small ones. It's great to use these meetings to drive your team harder, but that message is more likely to be well received if you've already acknowledged their successes. Especially if this is done in front of their peers.

4. Share Openly

Share information as openly and candidly as you can. It will help to build trust. Of course, it would be imprudent to share certain sensitive information, but share what you can.

5. Include Everyone

This should already be clear to you from the rest of this article, but it is important to invite everyone in the organization to the meeting. Ensure that all new hires get added to the invite list on their first day in the job.

Think how bad it would feel if you were working remotely within a strategically unimportant part of the business and you didn't receive an invite to the all-hands meeting? What kind of message do you think that sends?

6. Discuss Key Metrics

All organizations have somewhere they're trying to get to. Share your KPIs for these key initiatives so everyone understands how the organization is doing.

7. Leave room for Q & A

Leave some room on the agenda for questions and answers. Remember it's important to hear feedback from the team and to facilitate them to ask questions to clarify their understanding.

If you don't know the answer to a question then state you don't know and will get back to them. As tempting as it can be, don't try and make up an answer if you don't know it. You may feel it makes you look better to know the answer to everything, but it actually undermines your credibility if you lie.

8. Keep it Fun

All-hands meetings can be a great opportunity to have some fun. This could be getting pizza or beer for everyone at the end of the meeting and encouraging them to socialize. Or it could be giving employees the opportunity to sing or dance to showcase their other talents. Use your imagination here.

Alternative to Town Hall

If you are managing a small team then Management by Wandering Around (MBWA) can provide an alternative to all-hands meetings.

MBWA won't scale as well as town hall meetings, but they might give you better information on the fears and challenges facing your team.

Summary

Town hall meetings serve three purposes:

They allow management to share important information.

They allow employees to ask questions.

They ensure everyone understands the goals of the organization.

To be successful it is important that everyone attends the meeting. These meetings should not be a one-off event. You should hold them frequently to reinforce important points and to align new hires with the objectives of the organization.

It is also important that every all-hands meeting gives employees the opportunity to ask questions. This allows employees to feel part of the decision-making process.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
In this article, we'll look at how town hall meetings operate in an organizational context. The purpose of a town hall meeting is to allow: Management to keep their team up to date on important information. The team to ask questions of management and give their feedback.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
If you are in charge of managing a leader's town hall meeting, you know the drill: Every quarter or so, you sweat and struggle to create an agenda, pull together content, and run the session so it all goes smoothly.

But afterwards, you're often left with the suspicion that the town hall was a bit lackluster. Your post-event survey indicated that employees appreciated the effort, but they weren't brimming with enthusiasm. You wish you could get inside employees' heads to find out what they really think.

I'll tell you: Employees view most town halls as nothing more than "meh." How do I know this? My firm has conducted hundreds of surveys and focus groups, so we've been able to get employees' unvarnished feedback about town halls. Yes, employees think it's valuable to interact with senior leaders. But there are many things they hate about town halls. Here is the top 10 list:

1. Technical/logistical difficulties."We were at a remote location, and we couldn't hear everything." "People at the back of the cafeteria couldn't see the speakers." "With the money they spend on these meetings, you'd think they'd figure out how to fix A/V."

2. Bad PPT."I can't even read all that detail." "You'd think they could do better than those ugly, dense slides."

3. Poor time management."One speaker takes more time than he's supposed to, then the others have to rush through their slides." "The meeting's supposed to be an hour, but it always runs long." "When I don't get back to my station on time, my supervisor gets cranky."

4. Boring!"So many facts and figures!" "With all those charts, time moves soooo slowly." "I stopped going to the actual meetings and started attending remotely so at least I can multi-task."

5. Over our heads."To be honest, I quite frankly don't understand a lot of the stuff the CEO is saying." "It's all MBA-level content, as if the boss is presenting to the board, not employees."

6. Same stuff, different day."One town hall meeting is pretty much the same as another." "The format doesn't change from quarter to quarter, and the content's not very different either." "I feel like I heard it all before."

7. Meaningless content."I guess what's covered is important for the company, but I don't know what it means to me." "Am I supposed to do anything differently? It's not clear."

8. Fake questions."They ask for questions ahead of time, but when the facilitator reads the questions, they seem very packaged." "People raise their hands to ask questions, but it seems like that was all prearranged."

9. Not participative."The town hall seems very one-way: They talk and we have to listen." "The CEO says he wants questions, but the presentation always runs long and we end up with only a few minutes for Q&A." "It doesn't feel like it's really safe to speak."

10. Uninspiring."The focus is on bad news, so town halls are a downer." "It's like listening to a lecture. Am I motivated? No." "What do I feel when I leave the town hall? Mostly relief that it's over."

Ouch! Although the truth hurts, it does not have to be this way:

You have the power to improve your town halls. Start by asking employees for their candid feedback. Then address the issues that will make the biggest impact.

-
Alison Davis is the founder and CEO of Davis & Company, the award-winning employee communication firm that for 30 years has helped leading companies, such as BASF, Ingersoll Rand, Johnson & Johnson, Nestlé and PepsiCo, reach, engage and motivate their employees. Davis has written or edited these groundbreaking books: "49 Ways to Improve Employee Communications" (2013), "The Definitive Guide to HR Communication" (FT Press, 2011) and "Your Attention, Please" (Adams Business, 2006). [/et_pb_text][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][/et_pb_section]

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
10 Things Employees Hate About Town Halls - Public Relations Society of America

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
How much does a polar bear weigh?

Enough to break the ice.

Don't you feel better now that we've gotten that out of the way? Icebreakers make meetings better by loosening everybody up and getting them into "meeting mode." Consider the icebreaker a meeting warm up, an exercise you need to avoid awkward cramps throughout a meeting.

Despite persistent cliches, icebreakers do not have to follow any particular format, and they definitely do not have to be lame. You can use pretty much any game or activity you want to break the ice before your meeting, as long as it gets people talking and smiling. (Bonus points for icebreakers that support your cultural values!)

Here are some of our favorite icebreaker games and activities for meetings.

1. The One-Word Icebreaker

Keep things simple by having everyone describe their current mood in one word. You can have people explain their one-word mood descriptor if you want to add more depth to your icebreaker, but you can also just go with the flow and enjoy how cryptic some of the answers can be.

"I feel alpaca."

2. The Team-Win Icebreaker

Tori Holbrook, a Content Coordinator at SnackNation, has an easy icebreaker that will have everyone feeling good before a meeting.

"At our team meeting, we start off by going around the circle and calling out a 'win' from a team member. We acknowledge something that was far above and beyond their typical responsibilities and thank each other for surpassing expectations. It always feels great to be recognized, and it lifts the energy level in the room right away."

3. Favorite Knock-Knock Icebreaker

Have everyone tell their favorite knock-knock joke. Cell phone research is absolutely allowed, and laughter is mandatory.

4. Office Charades Icebreaker

Kick off your meetings by playing a few rounds of charades where the presenters can pick only office-related things.

If you're rusty on your charades skills, here's a quick refresher:

Pick a "presenter" to start things off.

Ask the presenter to think of an office item or activity. They can announce the category, but that's the last time they can talk.

Then have the presenter explain the item using only gestures. Any spoken words lead to an immediate disqualification.

Laugh a lot. All charades manuals agree the game cannot be played without lots of laughter and yelling.

Jenga is a block-stacking game probably everyone in the world has played at one point or another. You start out with a block tower and people take turns removing blocks (and stacking them on top), while trying to keep the tower standing. The game's over when the tower crumbles.

Jenga requires strategy and cooperation, plus you can add a powerful communication aspect to the game. Encourage your team to do something frowned upon during most family game nights: give the other teammates advice and pointers. (No one is allowed to get annoyed and roll their eyes.)

If your meeting is large, split people into groups and see who can build the tallest tower.

During this icebreaker from the American Management Association, participants choose a brand logo they identify with and explain why.

Here's how to play:

Hand out name tags and pens.

Have participants write their names and draw logos they love.

Have everyone share why they chose their logos. Share in a group, or have everyone share thoughts with their neighbors.

7. Toilet Paper Icebreaker

This idea from Lifehack requires minimal effort and minimal funds. To play, pass a roll of toilet paper around and have everyone rip off how much they would usually use.

Everyone will probably think you're crazy.

When the toilet paper makes it all the way around the circle, have everyone count their squares. The number of squares each person took is the number of fun facts they have to reveal about themselves.

Gamestorming recommends kicking off meetings by having everyone make trading cards to represent their personalities.

Hand out index cards and markers.

Tell everyone to draw a self-portrait and write their names, their nicknames (real or imaginary), and a fun fact.

Everyone jumps up and trades cards. People can trade as many times as they want, but they have to read each card they get before they trade.

After a few minutes, have everyone announce the name on the card they ended up with. People can even ask questions of the card's owner if they want.

Let the conversations flow!

9. The Personality Quiz Icebreaker

Make sure everyone has their smartphones. (We doubt this will be a problem.) Send everyone a link to a personality quiz you think they would like. Since there are probably over a million quizzes circulating, we know there will be one to pique your interest.

Everyone can take the quiz and then reveal their results to the group. Have everyone explain why they agree or disagree with the results.

10. The Boss Q&A Icebreaker

Bring in the head of your department or project and give everyone 15 minutes to ask any questions they have, no holds barred.

This icebreaker gets everyone thinking about the topic of your meeting. It might even clarify some of the issues the meeting aims to solve.

11. The Movie Pitch Icebreaker

Split people into groups and have each group come up with a movie they want to make. Everyone should have a short pitch prepared within 10 minutes. (This film is The Avengers meets My Little Pony.)

Let everyone make their pitch, and then have all meeting attendees vote on which idea deserves "funding." The winners won't immediately move to pre-production, but they might get a healthy snack for their creativity.

12. The Problem-Solution Icebreaker

Give everyone about ten minutes to pick out the biggest problems they see in the office and quickly dream up solutions. People can volunteer to pitch their ideas. Encourage creative thinking by declaring the room a safe zone, even if the boss is in the room.

This activity will break the ice, and it might even inspire some projects if someone pitches an idea that resonates with the room.

13. Speed "Dating" Icebreaker

Have everyone sit near people they don't work with. Tell everyone to look to their right and announce that they'll be spending the next 5 minutes speed networking with the person next to them. The goal: 5 conversations in 5 minutes. Set a timer; every time the buzzer goes off, it's time for people to find a new conversational partner.

14. The Shoe Icebreaker

This icebreaker from Chron requires zero prep and very little time to complete, but it's pretty unforgettable.

Have everyone leave one shoe by the door. Redistribute the shoes so everyone has one shoe that doesn't belong to them. Set a timer for five minutes, and tell everyone to find the shoe's owner and then strike up a 2-minute conversation, preferably about a subject other than shoes.

15. The Marshmallow Challenge

This challenge from Tom Wujec, a business visualization expert, makes the perfect icebreaker and team-building hybrid.

Break your meeting attendees into groups of four. Give each group 20 sticks of spaghetti, 1 yard of tape, 1 yard of string, and one marshmallow. Ask them to build the tallest freestanding structure they can. Sit back and see what happens.

Here's Tom Wujec talking about the team-building virtues of the Marshmallow Challenge:

16. Mindfulness Icebreaker

Meetings can sometimes fail because of what we bring to them, and we're not talking about notebooks and cell phones. If meeting attendees feel stress, especially about the meeting itself, then tension will dominate the agenda.

Reduce stress by opening the meeting with a mindfulness icebreaker. Start with three minutes of silent contemplation, and then have everyone write down what is stressing them out. When everyone finishes writing, tell them to rip up their stress. Put all the scraps together in a bowl on the table.

17. Minefield: The Obstacle Icebreaker

This classic classroom activity from TeachThought makes the perfect meeting icebreaker.

Set up "obstacles" around the conference room table. (We recommend something harmless and funny, like squeaky toys.) Now everyone takes turns navigating the obstacles while blindfolded, guided only by the shouts and direction of their teammates.

18. The Props Icebreaker

To conduct this inspirational icebreaker, give everyone five minutes to think of a recent situation where one of their co-workers blew them away with their skills and kindness. (It's a major plus if the situation involves someone in the meeting!) Now have everyone tell the stories to the rest of the group.

19. Company History Icebreaker

SignUpGenius's icebreaker helps employees learn some valuable company history. Make a list of questions, pop them on the projector, and ask employees if they know the answers. (Individual buzzers could be totally cool if you have any on hand!)

Here are some question ideas:

Mission statement

Founding year

Biggest goal

Founder's name

Number of employees

Biggest competitor

20. The No Smiling Icebreaker

Govloop has a counter-intuitive icebreaker that actually leads to lots of laughter. Tell everyone they can't smile during the first five minutes of the meeting. You'll be amazed at how humorous some people become when they're told not to smile.

Get the camera ready to take some silly pictures.

21. The Instagram Icebreaker

To conduct this idea from William Joseph, just give employees a few minutes to scroll through their Instagram photos and pick a snapshot they want to share with the group. They can share the photo and explain why they picked it. This will help some personality shine through, especially if people on your team need to get to know each other.

22. The Friendly Debate Icebreaker

Use this student-centric icebreaker idea from the Cult of Pedagogy in your next meeting.

Start out by posing a harmless question that prompts people to choose a side. Here are some examples:

Which food is better: pizza or tacos?

Would you rather go on a hike or to a movie?

What skill is more valuable: creativity or logic?

Which is worse: being bored or being too busy?

Have everyone physically divide into sides-pro pizza to the right; pro taco to the left. Let all the like-minded people discuss the virtues of their position for awhile, and then have a representative try to sell the other side of the room.

This will give everyone a chance to see things from different perspectives. It will open everyone's minds for a productive meeting.

23. The Employee-Driven Icebreaker

This icebreaker takes the cake on ease. Have each meeting attendee bring their favorite icebreaker. This "icebreaker" can be a joke, a quote, a phrase, an activity-anything at all. This icebreaker works because it removes the "Why are you making me do this?" factor. Everything employees do will be self-inflicted.

24. Electric Fence Icebreaker

This icebreaker from Toggl gets employees up and moving as they build an imaginary electric fence and try to cross it without getting "electrocuted." Make the fence by tying some string between two chairs. They can cross the fence however they like as long as they don't go under it.

25. Things-in-Common Icebreaker

This FairyGodBoss icebreaker helps teammates get to know each other on a deeper level by discovering what they have in common.

Split people into groups and tell them to find out how many things they have in common. The group who discovers the most things in common wins, so it pays to be persistent and thoughtful. (Physical features and clothing colors do not count!)

Each group will announce what they have in common to the rest of the group. Have everyone else raise their hand if they also have the thing in common.

26. The Inspirational Speaker Icebreaker

Put meeting attendees out of the spotlight and invite an inspirational speaker to break the ice before your meeting. Pick someone with expertise in what your company does or what you're meeting is about.

Ask the presenter to make the talk super quick so there's plenty of time for Q&A.
Do you have any favorite icebreakers you want to share? Let us know in the comments below.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Boost the Productivity of Your Meetings with These 26 Icebreaker Games

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Boost the Productivity of Your Meetings with These 26 Icebreaker Games How much does a polar bear weigh? Enough to break the ice. Don't you feel better now that we've gotten that out of the way? Icebreakers make meetings better by loosening everybody up and getting them into "meeting mode."